Everton must not let Gerrard’s Villa get Digne cheaply

It looks more and more likely that Everton will lose Lucas Digne in this transfer window as rumours now hint about a possible move to Aston Villa.

But, if Everton are to sell Digne this month, they must, as I’ve said before, ensure they get a good fee for the Frenchman whether that’s Villa or anyone else.

My gut instinct would be not to sell him to the Midlands club for any price, not because I have anything against the Villians themselves, but because of course Steven Gerrard is their manager.

However, these things have to be done professionally as we know and in a hard-headed fashion, particularly as it’s now clear Digne wants out of Goodison Park.

The key thing is to get the most money for him that will allow the Blues’ to properly re-invest in strengthening the squad further before this transfer window closes.

Chelsea had appeared to be the favourite potential destination for Digne once his fall-out with Rafa Benitez hardened into a major rift, especially once their England left-back Ben Chilwell is out injured for the rest of the season.

It seems though that the 29-year-old international left-back is now keen on a move to the Midlands and so Villa are apparently the new favourites to win the race for his signature.

The Liverpool Echo claim that one way this might happen is a cash plus player deal with Villa willing to let one of theirs move to the Toffees.

According to this report, that player could be Anwar El Ghazi who might be used as the makeweight in this proposed deal.

This is an interesting possibility as while many of El Ghazi’s stats are not the most impressive, he does seem to be a very good crosser of the ball, something Benitez is very keen to have more of.

So, were he to arrive he might well provide more good ammunition for the Blues’ England centre-forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, if he can ever get fit again.

Whatever the exact details of any possible deal, one thing to emphasise again is that Everton musn’t allow Digne to leave Merseyside in a cut-price deal that fails to adequately reflect his worth in the transfer market. that to me means nothing less than £25 million minimum.

The Toffees’ also need that sort of money if they’re going to be able to spend in the rest of this window and add some desperately needed additional quality to the first-team.

It’s an old maxim in football that an unhappy player – especially one who hasn’t been at his best for a long time – isn’t ideally a good one to have in the dressing room.

While that may be true, the club should be strong in it’s negotiations and not get pushed into a deal that doesn’t get the maximum fee for a player who is still after all seen as a top calibre international full-back. So far it’s looking hopeful this is what will happen.