Everton news: Leighton Baines, Gareth Barry and Mason Holgate all sign new contracts

Everton announced the new deals on Friday morning after agreeing new deals with the trio

Eleanor Crooks
Friday 16 December 2016 11:04 GMT
Comments
Leighton Baines is one of three players to sign new contracts with Everton
Leighton Baines is one of three players to sign new contracts with Everton (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Gareth Barry, Leighton Baines and Mason Holgate have all signed contract extensions with Everton.

Left-back Baines, who is in his 10th season with the Toffees, has committed until June 2019 and veteran midfielder Barry until 2018, while 20-year-old Holgate has been rewarded for a breakthrough season with a deal until June 2021.

The defender made his Premier League debut on the opening day of the season and has gone on to make five further appearances.

Baines joined Everton from Wigan in the summer of 2007 and has gone on to make more than 350 appearances for the club.

With 609 Premier League appearances, Barry sits behind only Ryan Giggs on the all-time list and is likely to overtake the Welshman's tally of 632 next season.

Manager Ronald Koeman said on the club website: "With Leighton, his attitude is always perfect. He likes to work hard, he likes to learn, he is a technical player with a good view of the game and I'm really happy to have him in the team this season and also for the longer term.

"Players like Leighton, Phil Jagielka and Gareth Barry are leaders in our dressing room and on the pitch.

"Let's hope (Barry) will smash every record. He's a quiet person but a strong character. He is 35 but he is still so important for the team.

"Mason is one of the big talents at the club. Of course, he started playing this season and did a great job. He's the future for the club and other young players like him."


Baines, 32, is hoping to finish his career at Goodison Park.

He said: "The majority of my career I've spent here at Everton and it's something that I hope will continue even beyond these next few years. I hope I'm always affiliated with Everton."

Everton will hope to finish a positive week by following up their victory over Arsenal in midweek with an overdue win in the Merseyside derby at Goodison on Monday.

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in