Leighton Baines: Defender believes Martinez can take them up a level

Since new boss Martinez took over from David Moyes in June, Baines admitted the team are going through a period of transition as they get used to a new style of playing.

However the England international is convinced that change was needed in order to take the club to the next level.

"I think the manager came in straight away with a lot of ambition and he talks about his hopes of taking the club that one step further from where they've been," Baines said.

"We'd always been seen to have done well but never quite managed to achieve the things we wanted and he wants to take us to the next level, but in order to do that we have to change our style a bit.

"What we are doing now is slightly in transition but it's a system that if we keep improving and get better at we'll definitely climb up the table.

"I'm sure the manager will be looking to keep investing and keep improving the squad because every year that's what everyone else does and I think to give him a chance to improve us to that level then he's going to need money to invest.

"We're working on what we've got here and what we've got at the moment I think the big teams have a lot of money to spend and they spend it every year and they improve every year so we'll have to do the same."

Baines signed a new four-year-contract on Monday, after originally signing for the club back in July 2007 from Wigan Athletic, and he admitted that he was not in need of any convincing to stay on at the Toffees.

"I don't think that it was necessarily that in need of convincing, it was just time really and my contract was getting to the point where we needed to talk about it," Baines said.

"Eventually we got around to doing that and got it agreed so obviously it was great to be able to draw a line under any uncertainty over my future and focus and move forward."