Baines has been one of my favourite players for a long time, and up until recently I honestly rated him as one of the very best left-backs in the world. However, I look at these situations and wonder what the plan is at Everton.
Martinez seems happy to back the board, same as Moyes before him, so I can only assume he knows the score when it comes to transfer budgets (or lack thereof). This makes me wonder why there seems to be no desire to cash in on players before their values begin to decline, despite the manager knowing there won't be money available to adequately replace them.
There is a clutch of players that appear destined either to retire here or drop down a level for next to nothing, leaving gaps all over the squad.
Obviously this isn't something Martinez has introduced - it's been an issue for as long as I can remember - but it's the sort of short-termist mindset I fully expected him to eradicate when he came here.