‘Two Saudi clubs’ want to sign Aston Villa player – No longer in Emery plans despite starting Newcastle game

Reports from the French media today say that Lucas Digne is set to leave Aston Villa this summer.

Journalist Ignazio Genuardi writes on Twitter that the 30-year-old is ‘closer and closer’ to leaving Unai Emery’s side.

It’s claimed that ‘two Saudi clubs’ are currently ‘positioned’ to get him signed in the coming weeks.

Genuardi claims Digne has a very high salary at Aston Villa, and his contract running until 2026 means the club would still have a long expense with him.

That’s why he’s said to no longer be in their plans, even though we’re still to see how much they’ll demand for his sale.

Digne was a starter in the Premier League’s opening round against Newcastle United, and it now sounds like that may have been one of his last chances to play for the club, especially with them going after Marcos Acuña.

Aston Villa spent €30m to get him signed from Everton in January 2022, and as he’s now valued by Transfermarkt at €15m, it sounds unlikely they’ll get to recover that money.

Now we should wait and see how much the Saudi sides will come offering for him.

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Fabrizio Romano reported on 13 August that the Villans had hijacked Everton’s move for the Leeds winger, only to pull out with the attacker set to be out for weeks.

The finance expert admitted that there is jeopardy for the club to take risks on injured players, but it also depends on their need for transfers at the time.

“It has come more to light with Chelsea and signing players on eight and nine-year deals, there is a risk in that from a player injury point of view as you’re only ever one game away from an injury and if you have an injury record.

“You can see how vital it can be on a decision over whether you sign a type of player, and it does show the jeopardy there. Position that with Aston Villa and where he has ended up at Everton, the risk there for Villa is something they don’t think is worth taking but they’re in a much different position to Everton.

“It’s not just player injury risk and jeopardy, it is also jeopardy for the club but it is very dependent on where you find yourself at that point in time.”