Everton will lose top talent without Europe

Left-back Lucas Digne has been speaking about how much playing in Europe means to him and the importance of Everton pushing hard to qualify for European competition next season.

Digne is the latest Everton player to underline the importance of tangible progress this season. His statement is perhaps a little veiled warning that he and other top Toffees players might well seek fresh pastures soon if the Blues can’t match their ambitions.

After this season started so well, there was genuine hope that perhaps Everton could finally break out of the mediocrity that has been their lot for so many recent years.

It seemed as though qualifying for Europe and maybe even getting into the top four and securing that elusive Champions League place might just be on the cards.

Now though that fine start has emphatically come to an end with the last four Premier League matches yielding only a single point and after three consecutive defeats that have seen the Toffees slide down the table from the lofty heights they had occupied.

For players of the quality and experience of Digne, playing in European competition is an almost mandatory requirement for their continued willingness to stay at a club long-term. The Frenchman has now been at Goodison Park for more than two years.

The French international is quite possibly the best, most consistent full-back in the country and despite the promise of young signing Niels Nkounkou it would be very difficult to replace him.

Obviously these sorts of statements are not a new thing and don’t necessarily mean that the players who make them will definitely leave the club. However, it does indicate that time is ticking for Everton to make a breakthrough in terms of the position and competitiveness of the team.

The French left-back’s comments follow Richarlison’s in the summer in which the Brazilian said he was basically giving the Blues another year and then would seek a transfer unless the team’s situation was considerably improved.

The arrival last December of Carlo Ancelotti and his transfer dealings in the summer, almost certainly forestalled any thoughts players might have had of leaving in this past year and gave fresh impetus to the club’s attempts to make real and sustained progress.

If Ancelotti hadn’t joined the Toffees and the club had failed to bring in better talent, I feel certain that one or two of the team’s top performers, possibly Digne or Richarlison, maybe both, would have pushed for a move away in the last transfer window.

This season has once again emphasized that Ancelotti is still a considerable way from having the squad and team he needs, but will his best talent give him enough time to get it right?

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The truth is that of course players these days have no loyalty to any club, something that modern football fans take for granted.

The era of one-club players – although still rare even then – who had a strong attachment to a particular team, seem long gone.

Having a world-class coach like the Italian will give the Blues more breathing space to improve and begin to fulfill some of the ambitions senior players like Digne have.

But that time won’t last for ever, especially for individuals such as the French full-back who are at the peak of their powers and feel they may only have a few more seasons left to win a major prize.

I think that Everton have to secure European football at the end of this campaign and/or maybe win a trophy, or there could well be an exodus of their best players next summer, even with a manager of Ancelotti’s calibre at the helm.