Everton offer one-year deal to Baxter after drug ban

REUTERS - Everton have offered former player Jose Baxter a 12-month contract after his one-year ban for testing positive for cocaine ends in June, the club has said.

Baxter, who is the youngest player to represent Everton when he made his debut in 2008 at 16, tested positive for cocaine last February while he was playing for Sheffield United.

He was banned by a Football Association (FA) panel in August, having already been given a suspended punishment in 2015 after testing positive for ecstasy, with a hearing accepting that his drink had been spiked.

"I'm speechless. Not many people get a second chance and here's me with a third chance," Baxter was quoted as saying by the Times.

Baxter will be working with David Unsworth's under-23 squad and the coach urged the midfielder not to take his new lease of life for granted.

"It can be anything he wants it to be... he will be treated like an under-23 player. It is up to him and down to his football performances. Nothing else," Unsworth said.

"He will be given the same opportunities as everyone else. He is one of our own, but I have said to Jose, in no uncertain terms, that this is your last chance."

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru)