Everton defende Luke Garbutt would be the only senior left-back at Goodison Park, if Leighton Baines goes.
Sam Allardyce had told Luke Garbutt to leave Everton, as reported by The Sun, but the left-back could yet be given a lifeline to save his Goodison Park career.
With Allardyce leaving recently, and now doubts surrounding the future of Leighton Baines, it could be that Everton can no longer afford to lose Garbutt.
The 24-year-old may not have played for the Toffees’ first-team since 2015, but he is still fairly well regarded at Goodison Park, after coming through their youth-team.
And if Baines is set to quit to move to MLS, as The Sun suggest, then Everton may deem it too risky to lose Garbutt.
Garbutt would be the only specialist senior left-back in their squad, if Baines was to depart, and it may be that whoever takes over at the Toffees decides to offer the full-back another chance.
Everton are unlikely to want to have to play Cuco Martina out of position for a chunk of the season again, as they did over the past campaign.
And, just as it seemed Garbutt would be packing his bags this summer, he may just have hope that things could turn around for him at Everton yet.
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