Aston Villa: Unai Emery happy for Lucas Digne to leave
The left-back has fallen out of favour at Villa Park
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery wants the club to sell left-back Lucas Digne this summer, according to a fresh rumour regarding his future at the club.
How much does Lucas Digne earn?
The 29-year-old arrived at Villa Park from Everton last year, coming in as an expensive addition and somehow who would hopefully be a roaring success for the Villans. Instead, his time in a Villa shirt has been extremely underwhelming overall, especially as he currently earns an eye-watering £163,000 per week
Last season, Digne only started 18 of his team’s 38 Premier League matches, ultimately losing his place in the team to Alex Moreno after too many disappointing performances – ending the season as the club’s 16th-best player, as per WhoScored.
It looks as though the Frenchman will continue to be nothing more than a squad player if he stays put at Villa this summer, but while his current deal doesn’t expire until 2026, it feels increasingly likely that he could head off to pastures new before the 2023/24 season gets underway.
Is Lucas Digne leaving Aston Villa?
According to Football Insider, Emery has given the green light to owners NSWE for Digne’s exit this summer, not seeing him as a key part of the club’s future under him, with the player also wanting out.
“Aston Villa are willing to listen to offers for Lucas Digne in the remaining six weeks of the window, sources have told Football Insider. The 29-year-old lost his regular starting role in the second half of last season following the January signing of Alex Moreno.
“Manager Unai Emery has told the Villa hierarchy he would be ready to let Digne go as he does not see him as a key man going into the new season. Moreover, Digne himself is not satisfied at playing a backup role in Emery’s side and is keen to leave if he remains on the fringes.
“Emery replaced Digne with Moreno in his first transfer move as Villa boss in January after assessing the former Everton man during his first two months in charge.”
Frankly, Villa should do all they can to move Digne on swiftly this summer, recouping as much of the £25m fee they paid for him as possible in the process. Some signings simply don’t work out and that is certainly the case with the former Everton man, who hasn’t done nearly enough to justify the wages he is currently on.
The 46-cap France international was hailed as “fantastic” by Marco Silva during their time together at Goodison Park, but such praise has been few and far between at Villa Park, in what has been a forgettable spell. At 29, Villa could still be able to receive a good amount of money for Digne’s services, and that may go towards signing a new full-back option who Emery believes can rival Moreno for minutes, or potentially strengthen a different area of the pitch instead.
The Spaniard needs to be having all of his players pulling in the same direction if they are to continue on their current positive trajectory, but it has arguably started to feel as though that isn’t the case with Digne, which only heightens the need to move him on in the coming weeks.
