Liverpool have enjoyed quite a busy transfer window so far.

The Raheem Sterling saga has finally ended with the forward moving away from Anfield in a £49m move to Manchester City. Obviously inspirational captain Steven Gerrard has also departed as have a few more lesser low profile faces.

Quite a few new recruits have been brought in to bolster the squad.

Christian Benteke offers something different in the lead strikers role, James Milner brings in a winning pedigree and a wealth of experience, Danny Ings has plenty of potential, right-back Nathaniel Clyne should offer more consistency at the back and Brazilian Roberto Firmino is the one that Brendan Rodgers hopes will catch the fans imagination and turn games in Liverpool’s favour.

But the Reds may still need a new left-back to come in and offer more from that side.

So it’s no coincidence that French internationalist Lucas Digne has been linked with a move to Liverpool all summer.

I really believe that Liverpool would be signing a future star if they managed to persuade Digne to leave Paris Saint-Germain and join them for the up and coming Premier League season.

I still can’t believe that the French champions and their boss Laurent Blanc would let the youngster leave, especially if the reported £8.5m fee is to be believed.

PSG shelled out £2m more than that only two seasons ago.

It’s true that the twenty-two year old’s career has stalled slightly at the Parc des Princes but that is more due to Maxwell playing extremely well at left-back rather than Digne declining in anyway.

With Brazilian full-back Maxwell turning thirty-four in August, surely this is the perfect season for Blanc to make Digne his first choice left-back.

But it seems as though PSG aren’t putting up much of a fight in trying to convince Lucas to stay in the French capital.

Last week when it looked as though Digne was about to stay on at PSG for at least another year, boss Blanc said this:

“This is firstly a very good thing for him and possibly for us, should he stay with us this season,” 

The word ‘possibly’ must have been hard for Lucas Digne to take in. It is hardly a ringing endorsement of his abilities or a suggestion he’d see more game time next term.

Blanc also recently confirmed that his young player had requested to leave:

Laurent Blanc has confirmed Lucas #Digne wants to leave #PSG “He asked to leave. He is very professional and is training very well” #LFC ?

— Andrew Gibney (@Gibney_A) July 20, 2015

With that apparent unwillingness to try and make him feel wanted at Les Rouge-et-Bleu, you can see why the young left sided defender may want to try his luck elsewhere.

He is a player that I’ve admired since his Lille days, when he broke into their first-team as a teenager. I honestly think he has what it takes to become the world’s best left-back one day.

Digne already has eight senior caps for France and he’ll be determined to stay in Didier Deschamps thoughts as his nation host next summers Euros. Along with Paul Pogba and Geoffrey Kondogbia, he was a stand-out player in the French under-20 team that won the FIFA U20 World Cup in 2013.

Digne likes to burst forward and get involved with those around him. Defensively he’s also pretty sound and known for his high concentration levels. Has an impressive engine and also has a decent cross on him.

Last term, Alberto Moreno failed to convince the Liverpool faithful that he was good enough to be relied upon. Having a competition between the two young left-backs would please Brendan Rodgers, especially if the victor could go on and become a Premier League star!

Two injury plagued years for Jose Enrique could see the Spaniard struggle to regain top form at Anfield. It may suit him to move on and start afresh elsewhere.

So I really see it as a huge positive for Liverpool if they can bring in a left-back of Lucas Digne’s ilk. As I said earlier, they may end up signing a player who could become the best player in the world for that position. That’s how much I think of Lucas Digne and his qualities.

Posted on July 29th, 2015 by scott
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