Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti has announced that confounding all expectations left-back Lucas Digne is fit and ready to play again.
This is a stunning comeback from the French defender who looked as though he was out of the Everton team until at least the end of January.
Digne suffered what seemed to be a very serious injury in training and it had supposedly ruled him out for weeks and even months.
Now though the left-back is apparently ready and available to be selected to play in tomorrow’s FA Cup match against Rotherham United.
This is a great piece of news for Blues supporters to have their French international defender back fit and healthy.
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It gives Ancelotti a genuinely world-class player back in his squad and is a significant boost for both him and Digne’s team mates.
If I was the Toffees boss I wouldn’t pick him for tomorrow’s game, although team news indicates he might do, and instead consider the left-back for the upcoming Premier League fixtures against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa.
The only caveat in all this is the history of what happened to Andre Gomes.
The Portuguese midfielder suffered his horrendous injury against Tottenham almost exactly a year earlier than Digne back in November 2019.
Gomes had a broken ankle, which was a horrible looking problem and he also looked as though he would be out for months possibly even a year.
But he rebounded very quickly, his rehabilitation was extremely quick and he returned well ahead of time just a few months after his injury.
However, although it was good to see the ex-Barcelona player back in the team, he struggled badly to find his best form (which Toffees fans have seen precious little of recently anyway) and has never justified his place in the team since. There was a sense that he had returned too quickly.
We have to hope that Digne won’t be as affected and that he is not going to be rushed back too quickly especially as Ben Godfrey has been doing a great job in his place.