English Premier League - Player Profile: Leighton Baines
Leighton Baines, whose full name is Leighton John Baines was born on the 11th of December 1984 in Kirkby, Merseyside in England. He plays as a professional footballer for Everton and also for the English national football team. Baines’s primary position is as a full back on the left side of defensive, which in tactical terms is called a left full back or a left back position.
Leighton spent most of his childhood in Kirkby with his working class family, his first football experience came at Liverpool’s primary school, however at the age of ten he joined a Sunday league team but failed to make many appearances strangely due to his shy personality. Later on in his life he got married to his girl friend Rachael and currently has two children.
Leighton Baines hit the spotlight in his career when he was signed up by Wigan Athletic, with him in the ranks during the 2002-2003 season, Wigan won the second division title and then progressed to the Championship where they finished as runners up in the 2004-2005 season, they also ended up as second best in the Football League Cup which took place in the 2005-2006 season. His debut for Wigan came in 2002 during their time in the second division of English football. The young Englishman scored his first goal for Athletic against Ipswich town; the goal came as a result of a brilliant long range strike by the full back.
He also was part of the Wigan side that earned promotion to the English Premier League, the pen ultimate division of English league football. In the summer of 2007, Baines switched clubs and came to Everton. Everton were being managed by David Moyes at that time, who is still in charge at the club. The Merseyside blues were looking to challenge for a UEFA Champions League spot in the English Premier League and in doing so the club was striving to compete against the likes of Manchester United, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Arsenal and Liverpool.
Moyes took Leighton under his wing and guided him in his endeavors, despite having a lot of experience in lower leagues with Wigan, the English Premier League turned out to be a real challenge for the young English left back. He primarily was signed up by Everton as a replacement for Philip Neville at the left back spot, his signature opened up space in the midfield area which Neville occupied from there on in as the club captain. The transfer fee that was agreed between Everton and Wigan Athletic amounted to around six million pounds.
In his first season at the club, he only made twenty nine appearances in all competitions and these opportunities emerged after Everton’s squad faced a terrible time with injuries to defenders such as Joseph Yobo and Phil Jagielka. In his second at Everton, Baines played regularly at the left back spot and he was voted player of the month in the English Premier League for two months in a row during the 2008-2009 season.
In the same season, Everton and Baines ended up as runners up in the Football Association Cup. At the end of the 2009-2010 season, Baines got selected in the English national team’s provisional World Cup squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. However, he missed out on the final twenty three man squad.
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