Aston Villa have reportedly reached a verbal agreement with Lucas Digne over a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2028.
The 32-year-old joined us from Everton in January 2022, and has since gone on to make 138 appearances for the club, adding four goals and 17 assists to his defensive work.
READ MORE: Agreement touted as Villa close in on crucial big-money signing
Despite facing competition for the starting role at left-back, the French international has continued to cement himself as a key option for Unai Emery, and will again compete with Ian Maatsen this season as we look to challenge across multiple fronts.
According to The Athletic, Digne has now reached a verbal agreement with Villa on a contract extension that will run until June 2028, with Emery said to be keen to keep the defender at the club despite speculation over his future this summer.
It’s added by Sky Sports Switzerland that further details still need to be finalised before an agreement is made official, but it seems as though both sides are certainly eager to get it done to secure Digne’s more immediate future, having had less than a year to run on his current deal.
With his experience, reliability, quality and leadership, Digne will hopefully continue to be an important presence in the squad moving forward, but there will be question marks over a potential cut in salary given Villa’s current predicament of trying to lower the wage bill in order to comply with UEFA’s SCR rules.
While there has been no definitive report as of yet suggesting that he has agreed to one, the expectation is that he will have had to in order to make progress in talks over a new deal given he was said to be one of the top earners at Villa, while the security of a two-year agreement will also be key for him at this stage of his career.
Villa’s pre-season preparations continue this week with our final three friendly outings before we get our Premier League campaign started on August 16, and so time will tell if we get official confirmation from the club on Digne’s new contract in the coming days, should the touted verbal agreement progress to something more formal.
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