Aston Villa are reportedly set to hold contract talks with Lucas Digne soon after the Frenchman entered the final 12 months of his current deal.
The 32-year-old arrived from Everton in January 2022, and he has since gone on to make 138 appearances for the club, scoring four goals and providing 17 assists to go with his defensive work.
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Having initially seen off the competition of Alex Moreno, the French international featured heavily last season despite the arrival of Ian Maatsen last summer, as he continued to provide Unai Emery with a solid and reliable option at left-back.
However, doubts have been raised over his future at Villa beyond this summer with his current deal set to expire in June 2026, as Villa will surely prefer to avoid losing him for nothing in a year’s time.
According to The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell though, Digne and Villa are planning to hold contract talks soon to potentially extend his time at the club, albeit it remains to be seen if that’s with the intention of staying with us beyond this summer, or ultimately strengthening our negotiating position in the event of a departure in the coming weeks.
It’s been well-documented that Villa have to reduce our wage bill in order to comply with UEFA’s SCR rules moving forward, and it has been reported that a plan is in place to reduce our spend on wages over the next two summers. We’ve seen a number of loanees return to their parent clubs with Villa opting not to sign them outright, while we’ve been very quiet in terms of incomings so far in this transfer window.
In turn, perhaps we’re seeing the strategy for this summer play out as Emery looks to hold on to the current group and perhaps add one or two players to give us more depth and additional quality in key areas, and that would be reflected in any new agreement with Digne, who would arguably have to take a pay cut to stay given he’s said to already be one of our top earners.
Given the speculation over Digne’s future over the summer thus far, it’s a fascinating development that he might now stay on, and while Villa will look to compete across multiple fronts again next season, time will tell if the Frenchman will serve as cover behind Maatsen this time round given his Dutch teammate is arguably seen as the long-term option in the position.
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