Leighton Baines set for friendly outing as England defender

The Costa Rica worldwide was forced off 25 minutes into Everton’s 6-2 win over Sunderland last Sunday and had a scan on Tuesday to determine the extent of the problem.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Martinez revealed, “We have a got a game that will be behind closed doors in the global break and Leighton will be playing a part in that”.

Baines is yet to play in 2015/16 campaign after undergoing ankle surgery in early August, having already had another operation on the same ankle in May.

Baines, 30, is back in training with the Everton squad but will not be fit to face West Ham on Saturday.

Baines has missed most of the season and is unlikely to start at Upton Park, with Cleverley and Besic also possibly joining him on the bench.

Cleverley has not played a first-team match since injuring his ankle at Tottenham on August 29, while Besic has managed only nine minutes of Premier League football because of hamstring problems.

‘Baines, Mo Besic and Tom Cleverley have been training with normality with the first-team squad, ‘ said Martinez.

“That’s a real positive boost”.

Leighton Baines will step up his comeback from injury with a behind closed doors friendly next week.

“We are going to find out a bit more about the extent of the injury but we don’t feel it is anything too serious”. “Medically, he’s in a great condition”.

“We hope that he can come back for the Aston Villa game (on November 21), if not, the Bournemouth game (November 28)”, he explained.