Everton will demand £25m for Lucas Digne
Everton are ready to offload Lucas Digne in the January transfer window and they could demand a fee of around £25 million for him, according to reports from The Athletic.
The Toffees paid around £18m when they signed him from Barcelona.
Digne has apparently fallen out of favour under Rafa Benitez. He has made 13 Premier League starts this season so far.
European champions Chelsea are looking to sign a left-back in January, and they have earmarked Digne as a potential option.
The report adds that Everton could be willing to send the Frenchman on loan, but they will demand a hefty fee.
Not ideal
Digne doesn’t seem to feature in Benitez’s first-team plans, and the Spaniard could be looking to ship him out.
Everton are unlikely to operate on a high transfer budget in January, and it will make sense to sell him permanently. He has a contract at the club till 2025, and the club should demand a high transfer fee for him.
A loan move in January makes a little sense unless there is an obligation to sign the Frenchman permanently. Plus, the potential buyer will be asked to pay Digne’s wages.
In such a scenario, Everton could allow the “sensational” defender [Andy Hinchcliffe hailed the French international (May 19)] to move on.
Digne likes to get up and support the attack and he is known for his great deliveries from wide areas. Benitez, on the other hand, likes defenders who are defensively strong.
Everton reportedly have found a replacement already, with Fabrizio Romano claiming that Vitaliy Mykolenko is close to joining the club.
It will be interesting to see how things unfold in the next few days, but Digne’s future looks bleak at Goodison Park.
In other Everton news, the Toffees are plotting January loan-to-buy bid for centre-mid hailed by Jack Grealish last month.
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