Lucas Digne

[duke313]

There could be a real problem with playing Digne at the weekend if he's going to be off shortly after that.  The player will not want to risk injury, he won't be putting in a shift put it that way.

If we get the Acuna deal done, we might have to throw him in on Sunday.  I'd rather have a fully committed Acuna who's not up to speed on the system, than a half committed Digne who is.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but we really should have kept Young for another season.  

[HalfTimePost]

5 minutes ago, duke313 said:

There could be a real problem with playing Digne at the weekend if he's going to be off shortly after that.  The player will not want to risk injury, he won't be putting in a shift put it that way.

If we get the Acuna deal done, we might have to throw him in on Sunday.  I'd rather have a fully committed Acuna who's not up to speed on the system, than a half committed Digne who is.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but we really should have kept Young for another season.  

To be fair, many thought it was a mistake to let Young go at the time too

[The_Steve]

Certain posters obsessing about his imagined wages over his decent to good performances aren’t doing it in good faith. It wouldn’t be this obsessed over had Deano or Unai signed him. It’s because he had the misfortune of being signed by the colossal failure of Gerrard. That a small contingent of committed posters persists with this, to me at least, is childish, hyperbolic and a little sad. You don’t have to like him, that’s fine. You can and should critique his performances, but once again, people are grasping at figures they don’t know to poo-poo a player who has been a good squad option, played for the shirt, and even after that 5-1 defeat last week, was one of the few people still trying. But yeah, let’s bring up the wages. Very productive. It’s not done in good faith. If we can upgrade the squad and we get a fair offer for him, I wish him nothing but the best. But I’d be happy if he stayed as quality competition behind Moreno. It’s much more of a squad game. 

[HalfTimePost]

8 minutes ago, lexicon said:

 

Are we? Sounds like nonsense to me. 

One of, obviously not the only one.

And yeah Left back is an important part of the attacking set up. The Second Striker is direct but drifts Right (Bailey, Diaby) whilst Watkins is more central, if he drifts left he's usually holding play up.

Left midfield is super important as a result and gets more attacking returns (Ramsey, Buendia) than the Right Midfield (McGinn). And then Left Back is doing a lot of the work that the RW could be doing on the left side. Moreno is pushed so very high.

Look, I like Moreno and I agree Digne isn't right for us, but it does surprise me it's continually 30yr old players being signed there because they need high energy to get up the pitch like that and back down again to defend

[Rolta]

7 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

Certain posters obsessing about his imagined wages over his decent to good performances aren’t doing it in good faith. It wouldn’t be this obsessed over had Deano or Unai signed him. It’s because he had the misfortune of being signed by the colossal failure of Gerrard. That a small contingent of committed posters persists with this, to me at least, is childish, hyperbolic and a little sad. You don’t have to like him, that’s fine. You can and should critique his performances, but once again, people are grasping at figures they don’t know to poo-poo a player who has been a good squad option, played for the shirt, and even after that 5-1 defeat last week, was one of the few people still trying. But yeah, let’s bring up the wages. Very productive. It’s not done in good faith. If we can upgrade the squad and we get a fair offer for him, I wish him nothing but the best. But I’d be happy if he stayed as quality competition behind Moreno. It’s much more of a squad game. 

I'm not one of those people you mention, but you're presuming a lot here. I don't know how you can be so confident declaring people's intentions. In 'their' defence, if Digne is on crazy high wages and he's our number 2 left back then it would make sense to rejig a little—and it appears as if both Emery and Monchi possibly think the same (sure maybe they think Acuña fits the system better). It's not a crazy bit of mathematics—money isn't endless. It doesn't have to be about Gerrard (but Gerrard putting Digne on a crazy contract is on Gerrard).

Edited August 18, 2023 by Rolta

[The_Steve]

2 minutes ago, Rolta said:

I'm not one of those people you mention, but you're presuming a lot here. I don't know how you can be so confident declaring people's intentions. In 'their' defence, if Digne is on crazy high wages and he's our number 2 left back then it would make sense to rejig a little—and it appears as if both Emery and Monchi possibly think the same (sure maybe they think Acuña fits the system better). It's not a crazy bit of mathematics—money isn't endless. It doesn't have to be about Gerrard (but Gerrard putting Digne on a crazy contract is on Gerrard).

Not aimed at you but there are posters like Zatman who claims he’s our ‘worst ever signing’ yet is the top poster in this thread. It’s just utterly childish to me to waste so much of one’s time. 
 

Given the inflated market, I do think £20-25m for an experienced left back with international and experience, was less of a risk. I won’t comment on wages we don’t what it amounts too. 
 

It’s fair to say that we need players for the system that serves Unai best. If that’s not Digne than so be it. At least he put a shift in. Even if he wasn’t exactly the signing his name perhaps should have lived up to. People are fine to think that. I’m not saying that, I’m calling out a pattern of behaviour from certain people. 
 

I value these kinds of contributions more. At least it’s a constructive discussion. 

[lexicon]

15 minutes ago, HalfTimePost said:

One of, obviously not the only one.

And yeah Left back is an important part of the attacking set up. The Second Striker is direct but drifts Right (Bailey, Diaby) whilst Watkins is more central, if he drifts left he's usually holding play up.

Left midfield is super important as a result and gets more attacking returns (Ramsey, Buendia) than the Right Midfield (McGinn). And then Left Back is doing a lot of the work that the RW could be doing on the left side. Moreno is pushed so very high.

Look, I like Moreno and I agree Digne isn't right for us, but it does surprise me it's continually 30yr old players being signed there because they need high energy to get up the pitch like that and back down again to defend

If it's super important, why is it a problem to be addressing it? And why is a player in his prime i.e. 30, a bad choice for that role? Did Ashley Young at 37 lack energy last season? 

TBH I don't agree anyway, Moreno has fewer defensive duties because of his attacking ones - the side/defence is designed to pick up the slack in that respect. 

I'd like to think that multiple trophy-winning manager Unai Emery knows what he's doing tbf. 

[thabucks]

48 minutes ago, smg said:

Some absolute sh*t being posted in this thread 

It’s the summer holidays … The transfer thread is worth swerving presently. 

Edited August 18, 2023 by thabucks

[sidcow]

9 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

It's over £150k a week if he starts games and we win.

A day I heard.  Bloke in the pub.   He was right abut the Queen dying last year, just sayin.

[VillanousOne]

He's done ok, he's not set the world alight but I never thought he was going to. By no means a bad signing, he's done a job and even improved under Emery.

If he leaves I certainly wouldn't place him even on the Top 100 worst signings for us.

I feel like him and Cash aren't bad players but sometimes lack a defensive footballing brain, not even sure Moreno has that, he's better regarded as he is so good at that attacking part.

[The_Steve]

11 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

He's done ok, he's not set the world alight but I never thought he was going to. By no means a bad signing, he's done a job and even improved under Emery.

If he leaves I certainly wouldn't place him even on the Top 100 worst signings for us.

I feel like him and Cash aren't bad players but sometimes lack a defensive footballing brain, not even sure Moreno has that, he's better regarded as he is so good at that attacking part.

The team is the sum of its best parts. Like a chain, we have some weaknesses and whilst he’s not lit the crowds. He’s been fairly reliable and I think that’s all we can ask of. Digne has his ceiling as with any other players, I still rate him, but having someone like Acuna gives us huge options. If we can get a fee for Digne that would be ideal. 

[Indigo]

I think he's a good player but a style of one that has very suddenly become a bit outdated in modern football at the top level. He's quite a traditional full back and has good quality in terms of his delivery, set-pieces etc but is a bit physically lacking in terms of pace and general size/strength, and doesn't suit either the pseudo-winger role that a Moreno would play nor the more withdrawn one on the other side. Even despite the money I can see why they'd be looking for a better fit, but he's a good player.

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, The_Steve said:

Actually laughable when you factor in the crap and wasters we’ve had in our relegation year, under Lambert or under MON - you don't even need to go that far back to disprove it. We get you don't rate him, that's totally fine. These types of jabs are honestly childish and really unnecessary. 

Lucas Digne 25 million 140k a week(probably more)

Joe Bennett 2.5 million and on about 12k a week

Big difference especially in FFP times

[Enda]

Charles N’Zogbia says hello.

If we want to talk about pound for pound, we also need to adjust for our increased revenue. Zog was our highest earner on £60,000 at the time I believe.

[Tomaszk]

1 hour ago, VillanousOne said:

He's done ok, he's not set the world alight but I never thought he was going to. By no means a bad signing, he's done a job and even improved under Emery.

That's not enough when you cost the club over £50m all in.

If he'd cost £2m and been on a championship contract for half his time here, 'doing a job' in the PL would be very praise worthy!

[VillanousOne]

9 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

That's not enough when you cost the club over £50m all in.

If he'd cost £2m and been on a championship contract for half his time here, 'doing a job' in the PL would be very praise worthy!

even if it's 'not enough' as you're own opinion states, the debate was is he the worse signing ever, which most would say he isn't.

The transfer fee is nothing to do with the player. Even the wage is based on the fact we were stupid enough to pay it, probably because he was already on stupid money at Everton and we had to match/improve slightly.

There is not a player alive anymore who ever takes a pay cut or ever would consider losing one penny in the face of game time, form, injury any factor that might impact their career/profile - its all about the money and nothing else is important anymore. Players didn't know what to spend their millions on, now they won't know what to spend their billions on at the end of the career, i'm sure all the cash will definitely go to Charities.... the days of 'i bought me mum a house' gone, now it's 'i bought me mum an island'.

I digress, i'd love to look beyond the Villa bubble and see how many fans feel about each individual player at their clubs and how many feel those players are doing a good job.

[AvfcRigo82]

2 hours ago, Rolta said:

It's not a crazy bit of mathematics—money isn't endless. It doesn't have to be about Gerrard (but Gerrard putting Digne on a crazy contract is on Gerrard).

It's not just on Gerrard, but also the idiot that signed off the deal aswell. Thankfully, he was chased out the door too.

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by AvfcRigo82

[Rolta]

2 hours ago, The_Steve said:

Not aimed at you but there are posters like Zatman who claims he’s our ‘worst ever signing’ yet is the top poster in this thread. It’s just utterly childish to me to waste so much of one’s time. 
 

Given the inflated market, I do think £20-25m for an experienced left back with international and experience, was less of a risk. I won’t comment on wages we don’t what it amounts too. 
 

It’s fair to say that we need players for the system that serves Unai best. If that’s not Digne than so be it. At least he put a shift in. Even if he wasn’t exactly the signing his name perhaps should have lived up to. People are fine to think that. I’m not saying that, I’m calling out a pattern of behaviour from certain people. 
 

I value these kinds of contributions more. At least it’s a constructive discussion. 

Digne is a good player. He's nowhere near as dangerous as Moreno, but as he showed on Saturday, he's a good Prem player for sure. He was our best performer imo. He's seemingly on too much money for his value in our squad, but yeah the hatred for him is weird. There's a fair bit of random anger on here!

Edited August 18, 2023 by Rolta

[lexicon]

54 minutes ago, Enda said:

Charles N’Zogbia says hello.

If we want to talk about pound for pound, we also need to adjust for our increased revenue. Zog was our highest earner on £60,000 at the time I believe.

Ross McCormack was probably worse if we're looking at it relative to revenue. And I'm saying that as someone who really hated N'Zogbia. 

[VillaChris]

McCormack was a far bigger waste of money pound for pound, 14m which was huge fee in championship at the time and we pretty much had to give him away in the end when his electronic gates started working.

Ultimately when he signed Digne in previous 6-7 years had played for Barca, Roma and been a premier league starting LB for 4-5 seasons so you simply don't get those players for 10m, we signed Targett for about 15m when we came up and he had very little prem experience.

Biggest issue was giving him a 4 and a half year deal so luckily there is Saudi interest otherwise he'd just be sitting on our bench or being loaned out.