Everton defender Leighton Baines has announced his retirement from football.
Baines, 35, joined the Blues in 2007 and went on to make 420 appearances for his boyhood club, with the last coming in Sunday’s final day loss to Bournemouth.
The ex-England international won three Player of the Season awards during a 13-year stay at Goodison Park and had the option of a 12-month extension.
Lucas Digne’s arrival in 2018 limited his first-team prospects with the veteran left-back featuring just 17 times in all competitions over the past two seasons.
Baines, who replaced Digne late in the second half of the 3-1 reversal to the Cherries, admits that he felt the moment was right to call time on his career.
He said: “I am incredibly proud to have represented Everton for the past 13 years and my decision to retire has been a difficult one to make.
“After speaking to my family, I feel now is the right time to end my playing career but I do so with many great memories at this proud football club.
“As someone from the city, Everton means so much to me and it has been an honour to be part of the club for so long.
“I would like to thank everyone who has supported me during my time at Everton, especially the fans who have been fantastic with me from the moment I signed.”
Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that Everton are still hopeful of retaining Baines in a non-playing capacity should he be willing to explore those avenues.
“I had only the last six months of his fantastic career and I found a fantastic player still. I asked him to continue but he decided to stop,” said Ancelotti.
“Everyone at the club has to be grateful to him. We tried to keep him.
“It was important as he was not only professional but because he is still a good left back. But he decided and we had to respect this.
“We have time to think about a new role.
“We would like to know what he would like to do in the future and the fact he can stay with us will be a good opportunity to use his knowledge and his experience and also be a new future for him.
“He didn’t talk to me about it yet but he has some days to think about this.”