Aston Villa defender Lucas Digne has reportedly emerged as a target for Paris Saint-Germain, who could trigger a release clause in his contract.
The 32-year-old has been with us since arriving from Everton in 2022, and he has since gone on to make 182 appearances for the club, scoring four goals and providing 24 assists in those outings to go with his defensive work.
Despite competition for the starting spot at left-back, the Frenchman has been a consistent and reliable presence in the squad, and has been a key figure in our progress and success under Unai Emery.
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However, his time with us could be coming to an end this summer, as Tom Collomosse of the Daily Mail has reported that PSG have set their sights on Digne, and it’s suggested that there is a release clause in his current contract which could be triggered to push through a deal.
With Digne still in World Cup action with France, it’s highly unlikely that anything will materialise until he returns from the USA, but this is certainly now one to watch as it looks as though he could be moving on, with BirminghamLive’s John Townley reporting that the release clause is worth under £10m.
While it would be a blow to lose him, that could be arguably be seen as a decent fee for a player who turns 33 next week, as Villa continue to grapple with our financial limitations and having to manage our wage bill.
Should a move to PSG materialise for Digne, that would seemingly open the door for Ian Maatsen to now emerge as our first-choice left-back, and so the pressure will be on the Dutchman’s shoulders to step up and deliver on a consistent basis with Digne potentially no longer an option to keep him out of the side.
We should know more in the next fortnight as to whether this move will go through or not, but with Youri Tielemans set to join Manchester United and as Johan Manzambi is expected to arrive at Villa, it’s starting to shape up to be an exciting summer of change as Emery perhaps starts to rebuild his squad to bring the average age down and lower our wage bill to avoid further sanctions for failure to adhere to financial regulations both domestically and in Europe.
