BAYERN MUNICH have given up in their attempt to lure Leighton Baines away from Everton.

The Bundesliga giants had tracked Baines for some time having been alerted to the left-back’s consistently impressive performances of recent weeks.

Bayern scouts had the player watched on several occasions last month and were in attendance when Baines netted in Everton’s 2-1 win at Manchester City.

Although David Moyes has been adamant he will not cash in on any of his leading players during the January transfer window, Bayern were poised to test the Everton manager’s resolve with an opening bid of £9million.

But with Baines himself having dismissed a possible move, the German side have now clearly accepted there is little chance of prising the 26-year-old away from his boyhood club.

“We cannot force him (Baines) to join us,” said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. ”He would rather live in Liverpool than Munich, and that’s that.”

Baines will be part of an Everton defence that will hope to improve on a record of just one clean sheet in 10 games when Tottenham Hotspur visit Goodison tomorrow evening.