Chelsea and Manchester City are both interested in exploring potential summer deals for Everton defender Lucas Digne, according to a 90min exclusive.
The French full-back joined the Blues from Barcelona in 2018 for around £18 million, having fallen down the pecking order at the Nou Camp.
Since being introduced to Everton’s squad, Digne has been a mainstay in the team under all of Marco Silva, Duncan Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti, with the 26-year old winning the Everton Player’s Player of the Season award last season, alongside Idrissa Gueye.
Having been described as a “bargain“, the Marcel Brands signing has now attracted the attention of both City and Chelsea, who are hoping to resolve their respective left-back shortcomings once the transfer window reopens.
Mail Online claim that Everton have moved to offer to Digne a new long-term contract to fend off interest, while the Toffees would demand a fee that would make Digne the most expensive full-back in history in order to sell, totalling £70million.
Everton’s price tag for the France international could put off prospective buyers, and rightly so, as the Blues must do all they can to keep Digne at Goodison Park for the foreseeable future.
Following Leighton Baines’ career having waned, Everton would surely have not expected to find a ready made replacement so quickly and so easily, but they did so in Digne.
The Frenchman has regularly impacted the club’s results over his 18 months on Merseyside, scoring four Premier League goals and assisting four last season, while he has assisted five times this season, despite being goalless.
Football Insider claimed in December that Ancelotti had sought assurances over the long-term futures of both Richarlison and Digne before committing himself to the managerial role at Goodison Park, and it isn’t hard to see why, Digne has emerged as an important player during his time with the club.
At just 26, Digne hasn’t hit the prime years of his career yet, and having regularly turned out excellent performances for the Toffees, the club would be hard-pressed to find someone who could replace him quite so well, even if they were given a monstrous transfer fee to do so with.
Digne has settled in at Goodison Park, he has won the hearts of man supporters, and he has his best years ahead of him in an Everton shirt. As such, it would be ridiculous to even imagine the club sanctioning a sale of the former Roma and Paris Saint-Germain defender, and they must remain resolute against interest from Premier League rivals.
