Everton defender Leighton Baines, who recently had surgery to repair his injured ankle, will be out of action for 12 to 14 weeks, Sky Sports reports.

As noted by Bleacher Report, this development comes at the worst possible time for Baines, after also missing the early stages of the 2015-16 season with other injury problems.

Bleacher Report also points out that few full-backs go forward to affect the game than the former Wigan Athletic defender, and Everton will most definitely miss the creativity of Baines down the left flank.

His injury leaves the squad thin with in his position, with Luke Garbutt on loan at Fulham. Costa Rican defender Bryan Oviedo could become an option, along with the young Brendan Galloway.

Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal confirmed at a press conference that keeper David De Gea would not be joining the team when it travels to face Aston Villa on Friday.

The Spanish keeper, who has been linked with La Liga giants real Madrid for months, also missed the season-opener against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. Despite missing the first two games, Simon Stone of BBC Sport expects De Gea to stay with United.

As noted by Bleacher Report, Sergio Romero, who kept a clean sheet in his Red Devils debut last weekend, is expected to be on the starting 11 again on Friday.

In Madrid, the Los Blancos are preparing to announce the contract extension of central defender Sergio Ramos.

"This coming Monday will se Sergio Ramos put pen to paper on an improved and extended contract at Real Madrid, running until 30th June 2020, at a ceremony at the Bernabeu," Marca reports.

The Independent, meanwhile reports that Real's in-house TV station is in the midst of preparing pieces for the announcement of ramos' new contract.