Everton defender Leighton Baines insists his focus is on Euro 2012 rather than his own future.
Baines has been linked with a summer move to Manchester United after another fine season for the Toffees, but he said he is channeling all his energies into helping England do well in Poland and the Ukraine.
“The United link is flattering,” Baines said. “There is no harm in people talking about it because it is a great club. But I’m at a great club as well, a club that I love. The focus now is all on the tournament. There’s not much time to let other things seep in.”
Baines added: “Would it be hard to turn United down? I’m not letting my focus shift to that while I am in camp. I’m focused on what I’m doing at the moment.
“Would it be hard to leave Everton? Yes, obviously. You know what it means. I’ve been there for five years myself but also know first-hand what it means to a lot of people so, yes it would be.”
Baines admits to feeling frustration at Everton’s inability to show their post-Christmas form during the first half of a season despite finishing seventh in the Barclays Premier League.
He said: “There is more frustration than satisfaction because we tend to do this every year. If we could start the league at Christmas, we’d probably be in the Champions League every year. I might have a word with someone and see if we can sort that out.
“That’s probably the case if you looked at it over the last three or four years. I would like to think that in at least two or three of those seasons we would have been in there (the Champions League).
“It’s strange. I’ve been there five years and we’ve done it every year (started slowly). I don’t know what it is. We’ve mixed things up a little bit pre-season and tried different things this year. We’ll probably do it again next year.
“I feel just even if we just had a decent start we’d be in a good position but generally our starts have been pretty poor and give us a mountain to climb. Generally we’ve managed to climb it but we’ve given ourselves a tough task.”
