Everton have been dealt a significant blow following the news that Lucas Digne has sustained a severe injury as the 27-year-old suffered major damage to his ankle ligaments in a training session at Finch Farm on Thursday.
As noted by Sky Sports, Digne has missed only five league matches since he joined the club in the summer of 2018 from Barcelona in an £18m deal, rendering him as a real stalwart of Carlo Ancelotti’s plans.
One of those was against Newcastle earlier in the season in a 2-1 defeat which saw summer signing Niels Nkounkou fill in for the then-suspended Digne. It may well be the case that Nkounkou is the primary backup option to the Frenhcman and could start against Leeds tomorrow.
“The left-back was injured during a training session at USM Finch Farm this week,” a brief Everton statement read on Thursday.
“Digne is due to undergo surgery on Monday before commencing his rehabilitation under the care of the club’s medical staff.”
No timeframe has yet been provided for Digne’s return, but many Everton fans unsurprisingly took to Twitter as the gravity of the news set in…
Twitter: It’s been 24 hours and I’m still not over the Digne injury news
(@HaydenJKirby)
Black Thursday if Digne is injured!😒
— Lesley Forshaw (@forsure_lesley) November 26, 2020
Some saw the lighter side of the issue as others noted there could be an opportunity for the promising Thierry Small…
Twitter: @thetoffees_com I bet Digne could still do it on crutches
(@carolcoulter3)
Twitter: I’d love to see Theiry Small brought into the senior team for training with Digne out injured…could be a good bac… https://t.co/69XucHDy0t (@BE_Toffees)
Twitter: @Everton Can’t seem to find the echo’s condolences page for digne anyone got the link
One Evertonian holds out hope that Digne will enjoy a phoenix-like re-emergence…
Twitter: @Everton @LucasDigne Get your feet up, have your op then come back strong Lucas. ‘Our left back is magic and his name is Lucas Digne’ (@aihart73)
