Everton complete signing of full-back Lucas Digne from Barcelona

Everton have completed the £18m signing of French left-back Lucas Digne from Barcelona.

Digne, who has 21 caps for France, joins the Toffees on a five-year deal and is expected to be the long-term replacement for 33-year-old Leighton Baines.

And speaking to Everton TV, Digne claimed that he is relishing the challenge of the Premier League, as well as joining a club with Everton’s history.

He 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.”

Very proud to join the Everton’s family let’s go #EFC pic.twitter.com/a4ZcDTjuST

— Lucas Digne (@LucasDigne) August 1, 2018

Digne comes to Everton having already won two league titles in France, with PSG, and a La Liga and Copa Del Rey double with Barcelona last season.

He has played with some of the best players in the world during his stints with PSG and Barcelona, as well as a successful loan spell with AS Roma in the 2015-16 season, and is sure to add some much-needed quality to an Everton defence that has conceded seven goals in their last two games in pre-season.

Everton manager, Marco Silva, is excited to have Digne in the squad and said: “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.”

Digne could make his Everton debut in their final pre-season game against Valencia at Goodison Park on Saturday.

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