Lucas Digne set for most critical spell of Aston Villa career, as Alex Moreno faces spell on sidelines
With January signing Alex Moreno facing a spell on the sidelines throughout the start of the new Premier League campaign, Lucas Digne now faces the most critical spell of his career at Aston Villa.
Moreno, 29, sustained a hamstring injury in the 1-1 draw against Liverpool last month, and he could be set to miss the beginning of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign after undergoing surgery.
Unai Emery revealed that the Spaniard would be out for “two to three months” and likely to return around the beginning of the season [BBC Sport, 26 May], which may mean he could be out until September at the latest, along with Jacob Ramsey [Shropshire Star, 26 July].
However, coming back from an injury of this magnitude often takes time, and as a result, Digne’s importance to Aston Villa has increased tenfold at the start of the next campaign, especially considering the new European horizon the club will be undertaking.
Villa currently possesses no other options on the left side of defence – barring 19-year-old academy prospect Seb Revan who isn’t yet ready for a Villa Park bow – so Frenchman Digne is set to play an extremely important role for Emery’s side in the coming weeks, but his career in West Midlands have certainly left a lot to be desired.
According to WhoScored, the former Everton full-back signing has been outperformed in numerous attacking facets, in comparison to Moreno, who only spent just five months at the club. recording just 0.3 shots on goal last year compared to Moreno’s average of 0.7. The latter also amassed an impressive average of 1.2 key passes per outing to Digne’s worrying 0.6.
Since arriving at Villa Park, Emery has often tasked his left-back with venturing into the final third on a regular basis, offering plenty of width and attacking vigour, while his right-back, often the now departed Ashley Young, was made to sit back and tuck into a narrow defensive position.
Digne has proven pretty shy in that sense, as the stats show, averaging just 0.1 dribbles per game at a dreadful rate of 21% [SofaScore], underperforming his 1.92 expected assists and creating just two big chances throughout the 2022/23 campaign.
These are worrying numbers for such an experienced international player, and such stats mean Digne may not have the required quality to trump Moreno in the long term.
The 46-capped French international possesses the defensive attributes to be a success in Emery’s tactical framework, but if he wishes to make the most out of his run in the first team, he must sharpen up his non-existent attacking instincts.
These next few weeks may be his most crucial in an Aston Villa shirt yet.
In other Aston Villa news, one Villa Park defender will have forced Emery into an easy decision heading into the new campaign after what he did in pre-season.