I was all set to leave Aston Villa but Unai Emery blocked my transfer
Aston Villa defender Lucas Digne has revealed that he was close to leaving the club and returning to his native France in Unai Emery's first summer transfer window at the club - only for the Spaniard to block his exit and ensure he remained at Villa Park.
Digne, who joined Villa during the January transfer window of 2022 from Everton while Steven Gerrard was manager, could well have departed just a little over a year of arriving at the club and headed back to Ligue 1 with Nice. It was just months after Emery had recruited compatriot Alex Moreno, casting doubt in Digne's mind over his playing time.
In truth, Moreno did have plenty of game time while Digne recovered from injury in the season following, but equally Emery had to lean on the Frenchman too when the shoe was on the other foot. As it has transpired, Digne has reclaimed his place in France's international squad and has outlasted Moreno, who is on loan at Nottingham Forest.
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Things might have been so different though for Digne, who has 18 months left on his Villa contract, had he been allowed to join Nice, but he decided to remain on Emery's request permitting he was still granted regular minutes.
“I was close to Nice but in the end the coach [Emery] didn’t agree at all with this idea of letting me go. I told him that I accepted his choice, provided I had playing time,” he said, via Sport Witness. “Everything went well, we got into the Champions League and now I can play in it!”
Digne, 31, has played previously for Lille, PSG and Barcelona before he joined Everton in 2018. To date, he has played 112 games for Villa and has scored four goals, including in Emery's first game in charge - a 3-1 win over Manchester United at Villa Park.
