Baines on England call-up

While Phil Jagielka is only on stand-by for Euro 2012, Leighton Baines knows that he is in the squad and will be making the trip this summer.

In a strange quirk Baines actually learned the news of his England call-up via Jags, who text him to congratulate him on being in the squad before Baines had officially been informed by the Football Association.

'I'm away so I was waiting on maybe a call or a text from someone from the FA but in the end I got a text off Jags saying 'congratulations' and when I text him back he just told me that the squad had been announced and that I was in. That was how I found out.' he told evertonfc.com.

But while it was an unconventional way of finding out Baines was obviously delighted to be included after narrowly missing out on the trip to the World Cup in 2010.

He continued: 'Obviously I'm really pleased. It's one of those things where you're hanging on waiting to get confirmation that you've had the nod, so it's just nice really to be able to put that to bed now and start to focus on the tournament.'

Baines might not have been at his best this season, but he has still been widely recognised as the second best English left back by some distance so it was pretty much nailed on that he would be part of the squad.

It was less likely that Phil Jagielka to be included, but even with the omission of Rio Ferdinand, Jags is still only on the stand-by list and is likely to miss out, something that Baines knows all to well after being cut from the provisional squad for South Africa.

He concluded: 'He will be disappointed, I suppose he's just clinging to that bit of hope now that he is involved and that there is a chance. It would have been nice for him to have been in the squad for definite but he's still in with a shout and hopefully he'll get to come.

Vital Everton is 100% interactive. Not only can you have your say on the articles and the forums but you can also write an article to be published on the website or a suggest a poll so you can air your views.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.