Stubbs says the left-back had his heart set on Old Trafford.
Manchester United spent much of the summer trying to tempt Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini to make the switch from Everton to Old Trafford.
Whilst the Belgian was signed on transfer deadline day in a £27.5m move, Baines remained with the Toffees – something former player and coach Alan Stubbs reveals was against the defender’s will.
“Probably come seven o’clock on the night [2 September] at Everton the word from the training ground was that no one was going to go,” the under-21s manager at Goodison Park was quoted by the Independent.
“Fellaini was staying. Bainesy was never really an option, the club had dug its heels in. Bainesy had obviously said he’d like to go.”
Of course in the end Fellaini did move and whilst the Merseyside club brought in Gareth Barry, Romelu Lukaku and James McCarthy, there is obviously a feeling that Baines would have liked to have joined the midfielder at the Red Devils.
The 28-year-old is the consummate professional however, praised during the United negotiations for carrying on playing for Everton and never trying to engineer the move.
Unlike big stars such as Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale, Baines continued to play under the terms of the left-back’s contract and would probably never admit that the England international wanted to go.
With the full-back approaching 29-years-old, this is probably the season the Englishman would have to make the move to a big club before becoming too old to be an option.
Whether United go back in for Baines in January remains to be seen.
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