Silva delighted as Digne reveals reasons behind Everton move

After returning from Barcelona’s US preseason trip to work out the formalities of the transfer to Everton, Lucas Digne has now officially joined the Blues.

Speaking after the confirmation of the transfer at Finch Farm, Digne said

“Everton is a big club with a great history. I want to play games, win games and excite the fans with the quality of our football.

“I played good football in Rome and I played well, too, in Barcelona. I progressed a lot as a player and as a person by playing with the best players in the world.

“When you play with the best players it helps you build your character and, of course, it helps on the training ground and during games, too, because you want to give the best of you.

“I want to show my best football here and discover the best league in the world. Everybody loves the Premier League. I am loving the fact I am coming here.

“I am not afraid, I am excited. For me, it is a new challenge to discover a country, a league, people and a great club such as Everton. It is fabulous.”

“My first impression on meeting the new manager was really good. I had a great feeling with him when we spoke.

“Immediately I said, ‘I want to come to Everton.’ “The Club has brought in a lot of players and we are building to bring some success in the Premier League.

“We will work together as a team to try to make this happen. That is what is important and I could not be more excited about this challenge.”

Digne is new Manager Marco Silva’s second signing of the summer following the capture of Richarlison from Watford.

The deal also solves the club’s long-standing problem at left-back, with Leighton Baines the only senior player comfortable in that position.

Speaking about the signing of Digne, Silva said:

“It is important to say that he is a player who, from the first moment he was contacted, showed enormous desire to play at Everton.

“He is a high-quality player, aggressive, with good technical ability and in the past five seasons he has played two years at Paris St-Germain, one in Roma and for the past two seasons he has demonstrated his clear quality in Barcelona.

“Lucas is a player who will add competitiveness in a position where we only had Leighton Baines last season and he is accustomed to winning. This is his mentality having captured titles in his career and having these on his résumé.”