Aston Villa have been boosted by the news that left-back Lucas Digne has returned to training.
Unai Emery managed to navigate through the festive period without suffering many serious injury concerns.
Pau Torres sustained an ankle injury in the 2-1 win over Brentford in December.
Although the Spaniard returned to come off the bench in the dramatic 3-2 victory over Burnley, he is now set to be out till the end of this month after complaining of soreness.
While losing Torres for an extra couple of matches is a big blow, Emery has enough options defensively to negate that issue.
Clement Lenglet partnered alongside Ezri Konsa against Boro with Diego Carlos afforded a rest, however, the Brazilian is expected to return to the starting XI in Sunday’s trip to Everton.
That fixture looks set to come too soon for one of Emery’s troops, though, after left-back Lucas Digne returned to light training following a hamstring injury in the 3-2 defeat against Manchester United last month.
Lucas Digne’s return to training is a huge boost
Although Alex Moreno has performed well in the Frenchman’s absence, scoring the equaliser in the 2-1 victory over Brentford in December, Digne is Emery’s first-choice left-back when fully fit.
The Spaniard has spoken highly of his progression and told the BBC: “His commitment, his behaviour, his performance has grown. I’m very happy with him and he’s a very good example for our younger players.”
He has backed up that praise with outstanding performances in the Premier League and has truly turned his career around at Villa Park after coming close to leaving in the summer.
According to FBref, the attacking side of Digne’s game has flourished, producing output from the left flank that matches the league’s best.
When comparing his attacking metrics to his positional peers in the division, he ranks in the top 15% for shot-creating actions, top 11% for touches (att pen) and top 1% for progressive passes received.
This highlights how much of a danger he is going forward and the statistics only demonstrate how much he has improved.
Digne could still depart Aston Villa
Digne’s return to training is a timely one but he could still depart Villa Park in the future.
Emery has shown his desire to sign Sevilla’s World Cup-winning left-back Marcos Acuna while Roma’s Leonardo Spinazzola could be available for free in the summer.
Given his hefty £120k-a-week wages, a departure is seen as a considerable alleviation on the club’s financial books.
That said, Digne’s form over the past few months – having shown he’s one of the most creative full-backs in the division – perhaps warrants the club to reconsider his future.
At the age of 30, he isn’t getting any younger, but he can still offer Emery so much in terms of his experience and quality, although it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him depart as it could be necessary for the club’s profit and sustainability measures.
