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Leighton Baines is 29 in December.

His fellow professionals have selected him in the last two PFA Teams of the Year.

And Tuesday night’s performance at Wembley was typical of the quality of display he has been producing for Everton for at least the last three seasons.

Yet it seemed to come as a revelation to much of the watching nation that England finally had a successor to the outstanding Ashley Cole.

“Leighton Baines must be England's first-choice left-back for the 2014 World Cup,” said Matt Le Tissier.

“Leighton Baines is now England number 3. Down to Cole to win it back,” offered Stan Collymore.

While an avalanche of amateur pundits on phone-ins, twitter and website forums woke up to the fact that Baines is a magnificent left-back.

Here on Merseyside Blues and Reds simply murmured: “Tell us something we don’t know.”

In pictures: England 2 Poland 0

The nation south of Watford might have exploded in astonished ecstasy at the quality of the delivery which finally opened up Poland’s defence at Wembley, but Mersey viewers merely nodded expectantly.

They’d seen it many times before, you see – 106 times last season alone.

Leighton Baines supplied more accurate crosses last term than any other Premier League player.

He also proved he was no one-trick pony.

He created 116 goalscoring chances, 12 more than any other player in the Premier League, was the only outfield player to play every minute of every match – and scored eight goals, some from the most wickedly deceptive deadball deliveries since Beckham was bending it.

Yet his appeal still seemed limited to Merseyside.

Baines was selected to play against San Marino last October, but for the more difficult trip to Poland four days later, Ashley Cole replaced him.

It was almost as if Cole was being wrapped in cotton wool.

Visiting Stevenage fans to Goodison chanted, somewhat comically: “You’re just a s*** Bradley Wiggins!”

While this summer Manchester United fans were bemused by David Moyes’ persistent pursuit of Baines as a replacement for the still highly regarded Patrice Evra.

Not half as bemused as Evertonians, though, when United offered a transfer fee that the Blues correctly labelled “derisory and insulting.”

United bid £28m for Fellaini AND Baines.

That fee was put into proper perspective when United were forced to fork out £27.5m for Fellaini alone.

Baines was still being undervalued, even by a manager who first spotted his potential at Wigan.

In pictures: EFC star Leighton Baines

It’s difficult to understand why it’s taken so long for the rest of the nation to cotton on.

Maybe he suffered from not playing Champions League football. Perhaps his lack of exposure in an international shirt – he made his debut in March 2010 and has still only won 21 caps – kept him hidden.

Maybe the lack of inches which bizarrely counted against him early in his Everton career was a contributory factor.

But only outside Merseyside.

Andy Hinchcliffe, a fine left-back himself for Everton and England, declared in October 2012: “Baines is the best left-back in the country by a long way.”

“If you get Baines or Cole in the final third in wide areas, I know who I would want over the ball.

“Cole’s first thought would be to control and play back inside, while Baines’s would be to control, get it out of his feet and whip a left-footed ball in.

“Cole is a very good defender but he doesn't whip crosses in, he doesn't take set-pieces, he doesn’t have a left foot like Leighton Baines.”

That’s opinion. But the facts back up Hinchcliffe’s claim.

Last season Baines made more tackles, more interceptions, completed more passes, more crosses, blocked more shots, had more assists, created more chances, had more shots and scored more goals than Cole.

The trend has continued in the first seven games of this season.

Some still hail Cole a better defender than Baines.

“For all the love for Leighton Baines this morning, faced with Cristiano Ronaldo or Arjen Robben at the World Cup, Ashley Cole still plays,” said the Mail’s Neil Ashton.

But then Roberto Carlos wasn’t renowned for his defensive qualities – and he was a World Cup winner in 2002.

And being an attacking full-back doesn’t always spell defensive vulnerability.

Uneasy pre-match predictions this week highlighted Borussia Dortmund’s right-wing flier Jakub Blaszczykowski as England’s biggest danger on Tuesday night.

So advanced was Baines all night, however, that Blaszczykowski spent most of the evening trying to track his runs.

The morning after the night before, a question was posed amongst Evertonians of a certain generation whether Baines could now be considered Everton’s greatest left-back.

But the role of a modern full-back is so different now to previous eras that it’s impossible to compare.

Only fans old enough to recall the great Ray Wilson in his pomp could give you an argument.

But that’s a parochial row. The nationwide debate about which left-back is England’s best has been won.

And the rest of the country is belatedly recognising it.