Scouting Reported Liverpool Transfer Target Lucas Digne

Liverpool have been tenuously linked with a move for Paris Saint-Germain left-back Lucas Digne this summer, as most recently reported by Tom Olver of Metro. But would the young Frenchman be a wise addition to Brendan Rodgers' squad as they look to press forward using the summer transfer window?

Olver relays word from Digne's agent, Mikkel Beck, who is reported by Get French Football News to have proffered: "There is a big possibility that he will leave on a permanent deal. Lucas is attracting enormous interest and I am working with Lucas and his family to reach a suitable resolution."

As ever, these words must be approached with caution—a player's representative is historically hiding at least a minor ulterior motive, and a move may not be on the cards this summer.

But given PSG offered Digne just 1,270 minutes of Ligue 1 action last season, spread over 15 appearances, and 26-game regular Maxwell signed a new one-year contract in March—as reported by the club's official website—with a view to seeing out his career with the club, there is every chance an unsettled Digne could move.

So would Liverpool be a "suitable resolution" for Beck and his client?

Digne joined PSG just two years ago as a prodigious 19-year-old who had swiftly made a name for himself with fellow Ligue 1 outfit Lille. The £10.75 million deal, reported by UEFA's website, saw Digne fulfil a dream.

He said on his arrival: "To play for Paris Saint-Germain, with these exceptional players, is a dream come true. I'm very happy. After the World Cup title in Turkey, I am having an incredible summer. I would like to thank the club for the confidence they have placed in me."

The left-back had just starred for the French U20s side as they triumphed in the youth World Cup competition, and as Jerrad Peters suggested for Bleacher Report during the tournament, he looked "the player most likely to make the leap" to the French senior national team. This was despite Les Bleus' young squad also featuring the likes of Paul Pogba, Kurt Zouma and Geoffrey Kondogbia.

For club and country, Digne was being fast-tracked to the very top.

Clive Rose/Getty Images

A 5'10", 74 kilograms full-back, Digne has always been well-placed to compete within an increasingly demanding defensive landscape, and this has shown with his eight caps for the senior French side since his debut.

Now, however, he is facing a crossroads, as described by Bleacher Report's Jonathan Johnson, writing for ESPN FC back in March:

"

Digne cannot afford to sit around and wait for more chances next season. He will be 22 when the new term starts and the 2016 UEFA European Championship is just around the corner. If the French international wants to be starring for Les Bleus on home soil then, he must make a move this summer or start to feature more prominently in Blanc's plans.

"

Johnson draws a parallel between Digne's current situation and that experienced by now-Liverpool centre-back Mamadou Sakho at PSG in 2013. Sakho left Paris having been shunted into the periphery, with a BBC Sport-reported £18 million move to Merseyside engineered to boost his chances of an international recall—now a regular for Didier Deschamps' outfit, the move worked wonders for the hulking centre-back.

Sakho's signing was a considerable coup for Liverpool, with the 25-year-old one of the best defenders in the Premier League. The question is whether Digne has the quality to follow suit.

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"Regarding his supposed defensive problems, compared to so-called phenomenons such as Evra or Clichy that we have, Digne is a monster of a player," former France full-back Eric Di Meco told RMC (h/t Goal) last summer.

While this may have been more criticism of the national side's reliance on the ageing Patrice Evra and the meandering Gael Clichy, his praise of Digne should be highlighted.

As a young left-back, Digne is justifiably raw in defensive situations, but he is far from the worst. Of Ligue 1's regular left-backs, only one player—Bordeaux's Diego Contento (0.3)—was dribbled past less than Digne (0.4) per 90 minutes in 2014/15.

Given the lack of game time offered to him in the league, the 21-year-old is extremely economical in defensive situations; a plug-in-and-go option for manager Laurent Blanc when Maxwell is unavailable. For comparison, Maxwell (0.5), Evra (0.9) and Clichy (1) were all beaten by their opposing attacker more times on average per 90 minutes for their respective league sides in 2014/15.

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Furthermore, Digne is a reasonable offensive player. He beat his man 0.6 times, made 0.6 key passes and made 0.9 accurate crosses per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 last season.

He was also impressive in possession, completing an average of 52.2 passes per 90 minutes, with an overall accuracy rate of 88.2 percent—an accuracy higher than any of Liverpool's current full-back options. With a deceptively high skill level akin to French right-back Bacary Sagna, Digne is also supremely adept in the air, winning 2.2 aerial duels per 90 last season; on the opposite end of the scale, Maxwell won just 0.8 per 90.

As Johnson attests when comparing Digne with Maxwell: "The Frenchman possesses the same sort of balanced style of play as the Brazilian, but is not yet at the same level of consistency—particularly with regards to the defensive aspect of his game."

At such a young age, Digne offers an accomplished midpoint between attacking thrust and defensive might, although, of course, both areas could be fine-tuned. On the face of it, he would be an excellent capture by the club to fill the role of left-back for the next 10 to 12 years. But do Liverpool truly need him?

Searching for another young, high-potential left-back at this stage is a rather bemusing situation, given Alberto Moreno's status within Rodgers' squad. Moreno joined in a £12 million move from Sevilla last summer, as reported by BBC Sport, and was heralded as the solution in a long-standing problem area for the Reds, as highlighted by Rodgers' words on Moreno's arrival.

Speaking to Liverpool's official website, the manager declared:

"

He has got huge potential. We needed a left-sided player. We monitored him for a while and when we felt we got the value and the worth, we were able to clinch the deal. He's a really exciting young player. When you watch him, he's very attack-minded, very quick and he serves the ball really well.

At 22, he's hungry to succeed. He has got improvements to make but he's one of the players we've brought in this summer who is ready to play straight away.

We had a practice game here last week and he looked very good. He's one who is coming straight out of La Liga. He's come from the Europa League champions.

He's done great. Last season he was one of the top left-backs in Europe and was highly sought after. He's a boy that will fit well into our way of working.

"

One year later, and despite a hit-and-miss first season on Merseyside, there is no reason for Liverpool to look to replace him as first-choice left-back.

Averaging 1.4 key passes per 90 minutes, he was the Reds' most creative defensive option, with his rampaging runs combining particularly well with Philippe Coutinho when the Brazilian was deployed in a left-sided playmaking role.

Furthermore, it was evident as the season progressed that Moreno was becoming more accustomed to the physical demands of the Premier League, finishing up with 2.1 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per 90 minutes—crucially, this combined total (3.4) is higher than Digne averaged per 90 in Ligue 1 (3.2).

Moreno will be the first to admit that he didn't have the most successful of maiden campaigns in the Premier League, but it is clear that he has quality and will grow into a top-level left-back; his performances for Sevilla, encapsulating Europa League victory in 2013/14, are the perfect evidence of this.

As Johnson notes: "Digne cannot afford to sit around and wait for more chances next season."

While Digne would be a fine addition to Rodgers' Liverpool squad and is a player who could grow into a truly great left-back, he's not the player the Reds need this summer. Instead, they should be looking for an experienced option in that role to provide Moreno with able competition and invaluable tutoring.

Statistics via WhoScored.com and Transfermarkt.co.uk.

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