Lucas Digne attempts to control the ball in a Premier League clash
According to The Times (h/t Daily Mail) Everton are planning to offer left-back Lucas Digne a new long-term contract to fend off interest from Premier League rivals Man City ahead of the January transfer window.
Pep Guardiola’s side are understood to be in the market for a new left-back, with Digne emerging as a potential target for the Cityzens. Digne, though, remains a key part of Carlo Ancelotti’s plans and the Toffees are desperate to convince the defender that his career would be best spent at Goodison Park. (h/t Daily Mail)
The 27-year-old, who joined Everton from Barcelona for £18million back in the summer of 2018, still has several years remaining on his current deal that runs until 2023. However, the Toffees are willing to secure the long-term future of one of their star players before he enters the last two years of his existing deal.
Digne bagged 4 goals and 4 assists in 35 PL appearances in his debut season to endear himself to the club faithful, finishing the campaign as one of the best-performing left-backs in the English top-flight. The Frenchman scored only once in all competitions last term but still managed to contribute with an impressive tally of 8 assists.
Digne carried his rich vein of form into the 2020-21 campaign and started all of Everton’s first eight fixtures in the Premier League, contributing with 4 assists in the process.
That was before he suffered a serious ankle injury towards the end of November. Digne hasn’t featured since the 3-2 win over Fulham. With the left-back expected to be out of action for another four weeks, Everton are likely to miss him for the majority of their fixtures in January.
Despite that, however, Digne remains one of the club’s most valuable assets alongside the likes of James Rodriguez, Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure.
Putting things into context, Lucas Digne’s sparkling form over the past couple of seasons at Goodison Park is certainly deserving of a new contract. The Frenchman’s current deal doesn’t run out until 2023 but with Man City sniffing around to snap him up, Everton shouldn’t hesitate to offer their star left-back fresh and improved terms as a mark of his progress.
The 27-year-old had been tipped for stardom ever since his younger days at Lille and PSG in France. While he struggled for regular game time at Barcelona, Digne has really taken his game to a new level following his move to Everton.
The Frenchman is widely regarded as one of the best attacking full-backs in English football, with his tally of 5 goals and 17 assists in 87 appearances for the Toffees enough to substantiate those claims.
Lucas Digne has worked his way back into the contention for France at the international level as a result of his impressive form at Everton over the past two seasons.
At 27, he still potentially has his best years ahead of him and the Toffees certainly need to keep him at the club if they are to challenge for a return to Europe under Ancelotti.
It goes without saying that Everton would need to fork out millions in the market to replace a player of Digne’s calibre if he ends up departing the club amid interest from Man City. Having said that, they should do everything to convince the Frenchman to stay put in Merseyside for the coming seasons.