Aston Villa defender Lucas Digne continues to be linked with a potential exit this summer, as he reportedly remains a transfer target for Atletico Madrid.
The 31-year-old has been a key figure for Villa since joining us in January 2022, as he’s made 138 appearances for the club since and has continued to play a pivotal role under Unai Emery.
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However, it’s been well documented that the Frenchman is now in the final 12 months of his contract with Villa, and so with the threat of losing him for nothing increasing, a decision is arguably needed this summer to determine if he signs a renewal and extends his stay with us, or if we look to secure a decent transfer fee for him and reduce our wage bill.
Given the experience and quality that he can offer, it comes as no surprise that there is interest in Digne, and as per Marca, Atletico Madrid could be the club that potentially prises him away from us.
It’s reported that the French international is on the La Liga giant’s transfer shortlist this summer as they look to upgrade at left-back, and although there are other targets under consideration, it may well be Digne who solves their issue given we can’t offer Champions League football next season and Ian Maatsen will continue to offer stiff competition for that starting role at left-back in a year leading up to the World Cup.
Time will tell if those are legitimate factors that could influence Digne’s decision on whether to stay or go this summer, and although Villa would surely prefer to keep him, from a financial sense it arguably makes too much sense to try and offload him now.
This will likely be the last opportunity the club gets to secure a decent fee for him, and to have a soon-to-be 32-year-old on big wages potentially dropping down the pecking order in the upcoming season is potentially too big a strain on our finances to warrant keeping him.
Emery relishes having two top-class options in every position, especially with Villa continuing to compete on multiple fronts, but a sacrifice may well be needed particularly after our shortcomings last season, and so it will be interesting to see who arrives to fill that void if Digne is given the green light to move on.
It’s certainly been a quiet start to the summer for Villa on the transfer market front, but the expectation is that we’ll start to see movement towards the end of June, and undoubtedly between then and the start of the new campaign.
