Thrust into a more fundamental role so far this season, Aston Villa defender Lucas Digne is yet another player who is now thriving under Unai Emery.
It can’t have been easy for the 30-year-old from January onwards earlier this year, having seen new signing Alex Moreno essentially replace him in the Villa starting line-up and impress as a key figure in Emery’s system and style of play.
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Speculation was rife over his future this past summer in terms of whether or not he would move on, but he ultimately stayed and hasn’t looked back since.
Moreno’s injury in our penultimate game of last season has ensured he hasn’t featured since, and while the Spaniard is expected to return next month, he is likely to have some fight on his hands to regain his position in the side.
That is down to the form of Digne, who has excelled so far this campaign and has produced the perfect response to competition for places and talk over his future at the club.
In 31 appearances last season, the French international scored two goals and failed to provide a single assist. In 15 appearances so far this year, he has one goal and five assists, as he has adapted his game and is becoming a more influential and effective solution under Emery on our left side.
Beyond the quality he has shown though, it’s his work ethic, commitment and reliability that has also stood out this season, as he has been given a heavy workload with a lack of alternative options to play at left-back, and he has stood up and delivered. ‘Availability is the best ability’ is a phrase often used in NFL circles, and that shouldn’t be downplayed in this example given our lack of depth.
Question marks can at times still be raised over his defensive work as he can be caught out, but as part of this system where he plays more advanced to stretch the pitch and offer width and an attacking outlet, he is playing some of his best football since joining the club.
Emery has made no secret of his desire to have two top options in every position to be able to compete at the top level and across different competitions, and so Digne and Moreno will battle it out and rotate in that left-back slot between now and the end of the season.
It remains to be seen how he responds to that challenge and if he can solidify his place at the top of the pecking order, but Digne deserves a lot of credit for the part he’s played already this year, and it’s hoped that with speculation behind him, he can continue to operate at a high level consistently over the course of the campaign.