Everton Coach Reveals Baines Was Keen on Manchester United Move

Everton coach Alan Stubbs has revealed that the Toffees star Leighton Baines was keen on making a switch to Manchester United during the summer transfer window.

The left-back, along with Marouane Fellaini was linked with a move to Old Trafford as United made a joint bid of £28m for the duo. However, the Premier League champions' approach was rejected by Everton which forced David Moyes to split the bids for the services of his former players.

Everton were keen on keeping both Baines and Fellaini at Goodison Park. However, United were successful in luring the Belgium international away from the club in a £27.5m move to Old Trafford on transfer deadline day.

Everton added James McCarthy, Romelu Lukaku and Gareth Barry to their squad in the final hours of the summer transfer, with the latter two joining the Merseyside club on a season-long loan.

"The way the transfer deadline goes, everyone looks at it and it got to a stage where we knew the Gareth Bale [to Real Madrid] thing was going to happen. That was the big one. Underlying from that, there wasn't really an awful lot going on," Stubbs explained.

"Probably come seven o'clock on the night [September 2] at Everton the word from the training ground was that no one was going to go. 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," he added

"And then, come nine o'clock, suddenly we started to get linked with Lukaku and then the Fellaini thing was starting with negotiations with United. By the time it had finished we'd bought three in and they are great additions to the squad," the Everton coach concluded.

Barry made his debut for Roberto Martinez's side during their 1-0 home win over Chelsea in their last league fixture. The England midfielder made a crucial clearance to block Samuel Eto'o from shooting into an empty net.

Meanwhile, the Premier League champions have retained the services of Patrice Evra as first choice left-back at the club. The French international has featured in all matches played by United this season.