Atletico Madrid are showing interest in a key Aston Villa star
Aston Villa face a challenging transfer window which looks likely to be dominated by outgoings rather than incomings until at least the end of June as the club face a battle to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
It’s a situation not too dissimilar to where Newcastle United found themselves in 2024 when they sold Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh. It leaves Villa needing to sell at least one senior player before 30 June and raise at least £15m as per a report from The Athletic.
Villa sold Jhon Duran for a figure in the region of £70m in January to help aid their cause while the club are thought to be doing everything they can to ensure names like Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Youri Tielemans are retained with next season’s push for Champions League qualification in mind.
However, one player that could be at risk of departing this summer is understood to be defensive stalwart Lucas Digne based on a new report fromFootball Insider.
Atletico Madrid could swoop in and sign Lucas Digne
Spanish heavyweights Atletico Madrid are thought to be interested in signing French international left-back Lucas Digne.The 31-year-old joined Aston Villa from Everton in January 2022 for a reported figure of £25m and has proven to be a great piece of business for the team after helping Villa to a seventh place finish in 2022/23, a fourth place finish the following season and a Champions League quarter-final, an FA Cup semi-final and a sixth place finish in the year just gone.
Digne is rated highly by Unai Emery and has featured in 138 games since arriving in the West Midlands, including 45 times last term across all competitions. He’s known for his ability to bomb forward and create chances for his teammates as well as his defensive acumen and is also a threat from setplays with his pinpoint passing accuracy. However, he’s currently in the final year of his contract at the club, leading to speculation that Atletico could try and get the player on board for a cut-price fee.
Football Insider claims Atletico are expected to put forward an opening offer of around £8m for Digne, with claims suggesting they could increase their offer to £10m if the initial bid isn’t successful. The outlet adds that Digne has held talks with Atletico already to assess how much he could earn in the Spanish capital if Villa did decide to cash in on him.The Frenchman has played in La Liga before with Barcelona between 2016 and 2018, lifting one league title and two Copa Del Rey trophies.
Are Aston Villa likely to sell Lucas Digne?
As it stands, based solely on reports coming out of Villa Park, it seems likely that one or both of Emi Martinez or Lucas Digne will be sacrificed to help the club solve their PSR problem.
Martinez has been a regular for the last five seasons and is viewed as one of the very best in the world but has reportedly expressed a desire to move to Manchester Uniteddespite the Old Trafford club’s 15th place finish and their lack of European football after losing to Tottenham in the Europa League final last term.
Meanwhile, Digne was also a regular fixture in the team last season. However, with the emergence of youngster Ian Maatsen and the Dutchman’s strong form towards the end of the season, it’s feasible Digne could make way to allow the 23-year-old to step up and become the first choice starter.
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