Everton and Barcelona have come to an agreement over a fee for France international left-back Lucas Digne, Goal can confirm.
The Toffees have agreed to sign the former Roma and Paris Saint-Germain star for a value between €22 million (£19.5m/$25.6m) and €25m (£22m/$29m) once bonuses are included.
The defender, who turned 25 last week, grew frustrated at Camp Nou last season when his first-team opportunities were limited under new coach Ernesto Valverde, who restricted him to only 20 appearances in total and caused the player to miss out on the opportunity of playing at the World Cup.
His Barcelona career had started promisingly under Luis Enrique, who quit at the end of the 2016-17 season. Valverde’s presence, however, saw Lille youth produce Digne have his playing time dramatically reduced as Jordi Alba became an immovable object in Barca’s system.
It is expected that Digne will replace Leighton Baines at Goodison Park, with the 33-year-old having now played 10 seasons for the Toffees. Barcelona are currently on a pre-season tour of the USA, where they will face Tottenham on Saturday in Los Angeles.
By the time they face Roma on Tuesday, though, it is expected that Digne will have flown to Liverpool and completed his move to Everton.
Marco Silva’s club are also working on a deal to sign Colombia international centre-back Yerry Mina, who was one of the revelations of the World Cup, where he scored three times with his national side.
Like Digne Mina has struggled to make an impression at Camp Nou under Valverde, featuring only six times in the second half of last term after moving from Palmeiras in January.
With less than a fortnight left in the transfer window, Everton’s progress in bringing players in has been relatively slow, although they secured a deal to sign Richarlison from Watford earlier this week.
Notable players to leave, however, include defender Ramiro Funes Mori, midfielder Davy Klaassen and veteran forward Wayne Rooney.
The left-back spot was seen as a particular area of concern with Kieran Tierney, Marvin Plattenhardt, Jordan Lukaku and Dalbert all considered before agreeing terms over Digne.
Ahead of a meeting with Rennes on Saturday in France, Everton have won only one of their five pre-season meetings – a 22-0 success over ATV Irdning. Among their other results is a scoreless draw against Lille, one of Digne’s former clubs.
Source : Goal
