Everton Plan Baines Talks As Manchester United Weigh Up January Move

Everton manager Roberto Martinez has hinted the club may look to offer Leighton Baines an improved contract amid reports Manchester United will re-launch efforts to sign the full back in January.

The England international was heavily pursued by his former manager David Moyes during the summer transfer window as Everton rejected bids of £12m and £15m for the 28-year-old, in addition to a joint bid of £28m for him and Marouane Fellaini.

Everton eventually accepted a £27.5m offer for the Belgian midfielder, but held on to their sought-after left back. With the dust now settled after a chaotic transfer window, Martinez has indicated the club will look into extending the contracts of a number of their players which could include Baines, without the distraction of a transfer window hanging over them.

"When the window is open I think it is the wrong time to speak about those things and so we hadn't discussed it," Martinez told reporters.

"But now the window is closed, we are going to look into all the players in the squad and see where their contracts are up to.

"Then, individually, we will look to address that. It would just have created more instability if we had done that while the window was open."

Reports have already suggested that United manager and chief executive Edward Woodward will seek to address the club's failure to secure all but one of their summer targets during the January transfer window.

United diverted their attention to Real Madrid full-back Fabio Coentrao in the final hours before transfer deadline day after it had become clear Everton would not entertain offers for the defender at such a late stage, or for such an undesirable fee.

It remains to be seen whether United will renew their interest in the Portuguese international, who is likely to remain understudy to Brazilian full back Marcelo at the Bernabeu this season, in January or refocus their efforts on Baines, who is contracted to Goodison Park until 2015.