Lucas Digne

[turvontour]

Is this position depth too rather than saying Targett has to leave? If the aspiration is to play in europe and go far in cups you need very similar quality players in reserve.

You could have Digne featuring in 30-35 games next season and Targett in 15 -20. That's what the europa level teams do.

Edited January 10, 2022 by turvontour

[DCJonah]

I just don't get the worries or concerns. We are buying proven quality. Do you know how rare that's been for us as a club the past decade or so?

And those worried about short term with buying older players are ignoring the fact that we've swooped up multiple highly rated, high potential kids over the last couple of years. 

We also have a young squad. We're starting to get a real balance here whilst building a competitive squad. 

The short term signing of these guys also boosts our appeal to potential longer term type signings. 

 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

4 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Olympic Gold medallist

Zat, just a quick thought.

Bringing back Kessler - on the other side ( hopefully because they rate him and think he is good enough to be in the squad now ) is a good sign and adage to our overall policy?

So whilst we've spent big money to address one side, we've promoted internally on the other?

( I'm thinking out loud about some of your concerns )

[The_Steve]

If you’re a young defender of midfielder at our club, imagine the joy of being coached by one of the all-time greats and seeing the likes of Coutinho and Digne rocking up to training. Massive. What a difference a few years makes. 

[Phil Silvers]

4 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

If you’re a young defender of midfielder at our club, imagine the joy of being coached by one of the all-time greats and seeing the likes of Coutinho and Digne rocking up to training. Massive. What a difference a few years makes. 

I think the top players on better wages will give the rest something to aspire to, it will raise the games of some and others will be found out and drop kicked at the first opportunity.

Edited January 10, 2022 by Phil Silvers

[Ingram85]

I don’t care if it’s to replace targett or not, if it spurs on targett to improve then that’s good for us, if not he can be reserve or leave.

[Zatman]

3 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Zat, just a quick thought.

Bringing back Kessler - on the other side ( hopefully because they rate him and think he is good enough to be in the squad now ) is a good sign and adage to our overall policy?

So whilst we've spent big money to address one side, we've promoted internally on the other?

( I'm thinking out loud about some of your concerns )

My concern isnt actually his age its a good age though would have preferred Hickey but its more we will probably be stuck with a long contract as he will be our highest paid player. I cannot see him taking a pay cut 

[The_Steve]

1 minute ago, Phil Silvers said:

I think the top players on better wages will give the rest something to aspire to, it will raise the games of some and others will be found out and dropped kick at the first opportunity.

Exactly - healthy competition and quality will push everyone onwards. 

[MWARLEY2]

2 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Zat, just a quick thought.

Bringing back Kessler - on the other side ( hopefully because they rate him and think he is good enough to be in the squad now ) is a good sign and adage to our overall policy?

So whilst we've spent big money to address one side, we've promoted internally on the other?

( I'm thinking out loud about some of your concerns )

We have no prospective left back at the moment of an age to compete against Targett.  So we spend on quality. As Gerrard said he has no interest in buying just to increase depth. This will be one of those transfers that are transformative to the team . 

At the moment we have 6 defenders over the age of 19 at the club . This will make it 7 . Hardly an issue 

[HeyAnty]

30 minutes ago, Nigel said:

My main concern is the finances combined with his age, all seems a bit short-termist.  Its against the medium to long term goals set by the club that seemed such a great idea only a few months back. He seemed the least likely of the options available, the most expensive an safest option without the upsides a younger player could offer if things go wrong.

However ive been having a think about this and maybe plans have changed since Newcastles takeover. Maybe the need to climb the league fast has taken over?

 

Hey if the likes of Chelsea can pay 80 odd million for a keeper, pay him 200k a week and not play him, Dinge at his money is no risk at all. 

[Wes]

 

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

 

[PieFacE]

20m Euro? That's got to be bollocks surely.

[The Rosk]

From an Everton forum

 

"

I think if you take out issues with Rafael and look at the deal objectively, it's a good deal. Yes, Digne is one of our better players but all clubs need to player trade to improve. Every club to some extent is a selling club. I think in the short term, Villa will get the better of the deal but I doubt it long term. Digne is a good player, who is out of form, but is also reaching the latter stages of his career. The deal has pros and cons for both teams and only time will tell who got the better end of it.

It is reported that Digne will be getting around 120-150k per week. The Athletic is reporting that Villa want him on a long contract. That is quite a risky strategy that hinges on them qualifying for Europe. Similar to the type of thing we did a few years ago. Given Digne has never been blessed with thunderous pace, and the fact he is entering his later years, there is a high chance Villa are stuck with a very expensive player in a couple of seasons. Obviously, should Villa get into Europe then they will argue that the deal made sense.

Now forget Rafael is our manager, Carlo still is for example and this bid comes in. For us, we bring in £25m for a player who is out of favour, on CL level wages and since Feb has seen his form downturn. Now, there is every chance he moves to Villa and recaptures his form but there is also a chance that he doesn't. Given our need to generate funds for FFP, can we risk turning down that fee for him?

£25 is a good price. We paid £21 for Allan who was 29 at the time. You could argue he had been playing at high level in recent years when we bought him compared to Digne?

Selling Digne now allows us to bring in two new fullbacks and potentially one further signing. The new lads are young and will need time to bed in, that is true. We will also make a significant saving on wages. Personally, I don't think we should be paying anyone over 100K given we aren't in a European comp.

It stings that we are selling Digne. It is not nice he is going to another Prem Club. But we need to raise funds to improve and out of our sellable assets, I'd rather lose him then DCL or Richarlison.

I just wish people would stop with the dramatics like: agent Rafael selling him to ruin us, villa are a step up (3 points and we have a game in hand), we losing our best player, Digne is [Poor language removed] - all of those statements are false and you just sound stupid."

 

 

[thunderball]

Let’s hope this goes through. Another experienced senior player to mix with the youth, more competition, apparently a consummate professional as well as being an international. 

I would have preferred Hickey and hope Gerrard is not another MON ‘of the moment’ manager in a hurry to get to Liverpool at the expense of the medium and long term, but I guess that’s where Lange and Purslow should provide the overview. It feels the right kind of signing, as does Coutinho.  

[bannedfromHandV]

I wonder how much our strategy has been influenced by the Newcastle takeover.

We seem to be going head to head with them on our targets and I wonder if the board might see it as a ‘now or never’ attempt to put some significant distance between the two clubs before they get a chance to really start flexing their financial muscles, we already have 7 or more clubs to try and catch and overtake  in order to be successful so can ill afford another on top of that I guess.

It’s all a bit of a departure from prior transfer strategies so I can see why some folks are concerned, we’ve moved almost from one end of the scale to the other in terms of shifting focus away from young, up and coming potentials to established and high profile players who are entering the mid-later years of their careers, time will tell how it all pans out of course but it’s exciting and a little surprising as i certainly was not expecting this kind of activity in this window.

[GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS]

Personal opinion obviously, but I think Targett is massively overrated amongst a certain section of people on here.  Don't get me wrong, I know there are also plenty of critics, but I see so many comments saying that from an attacking sense he's very good.  Is he really?  He massively benefitted from having Grealish in front of him and the space that created, but since Jack left, all I have seen is backwards passes and crosses being smashed into the shins of the first defender!

With Digne, I feel like the upgrade in technical ability will see us improve hugely, plus I think he's much more likely to complement Coutinho on that side.

[PieFacE]

Just now, GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS said:

He massively benefitted from having Grealish in front of him and the space that created, but since Jack left, all I have seen is backwards passes and crosses being smashed into the shins of the first defender!

Looks half the player attacking wise without Jack. 

[The_Steve]

Just now, GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS said:

Personal opinion obviously, but I think Targett is massively overrated amongst a certain section of people on here.  Don't get me wrong, I know there are also plenty of critics, but I see so many comments saying that from an attacking sense he's very good.  Is he really?  He massively benefitted from having Grealish in front of him and the space that created, but since Jack left, all I have seen is backwards passes and crosses being smashed into the shins of the first defender!

With Digne, I feel like the upgrade in technical ability will see us improve hugely, plus I think he's much more likely to complement Coutinho on that side.

I think that plays a part of it - he’s a good lad but he’s got a limited ceiling - we cannot afford to have passengers anymore and there cannot be sentimentality either. We won’t progress otherwise. 

[sidcow]

This place is literally going nuts.

Players still in their 20's are a concern. It's absolutely insane to think that.

You could buy a player age 29 and still sell him in 3 years time age 32 and still get a transfer fee.

The mind boggles at how some people think.

Edited January 10, 2022 by sidcow