Who Can Replace Roma-Bound Lucas Digne at PSG?
After two seasons at Paris Saint-Germain, left-back Lucas Digne is expected to swap the French capital for its Italian counterpart later this week.
According to Football-Italia, the France international is expected to undergo a medical at Stadio Olimpico before finalising a one-season loan move worth €1.5 million with an option to buy for an additional €16.5 million—making the move worth a potential total of €18 million.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
As mentioned in the same report, Digne was left out of the match squad for last Friday’s 1-0 away win over his former club, Lille OSC, and he bid farewell to his team-mates after the game.
The 22-year-old has struggled since arriving in Paris back in the summer of 2013 for €15 million.
Despite having the talent to feature in Laurent Blanc’s starting XI on a regular basis, the PSG No. 21 has been unable to usurp the evergreen Brazilian veteran Maxwell as Le President’s first-choice left-back.
Digne arrived at Parc des Princes fresh from winning the 2013 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Turkey.
That move, combined with his impressive performances for Pierre Mankowski’s boys, was enough to open the door to Didier Deschamps’ France squad in the months leading up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Although he was not featuring week-in, week-out for PSG, Digne’s displays, when used, were enough to earn a place in the 46-year-old’s plans to rebuild Les Bleus after a near miss in qualifying for the World Cup.
The former LOSC man went on to feature in the French World Cup squad, and he even got to start and play the full 90 minutes of a 0-0 draw with Ecuador in the final Group E encounter that confirmed first place in the group.
However, upon returning to Paris, Digne soon found his route to the first team blocked by a familiar obstacle in the unerringly consistent form of Maxwell.
In the few chances that the youngster was given by Blanc last season, he rarely took the opportunity to impress and never really put the Brazilian under pressure.
The 33-year-old was never made to truly work to retain his starting role, but Blanc could still have ultimately given Digne a few more chances in games where he went for Maxwell instead.
With the 2016 UEFA European Championship just around the corner, something had to change this summer, and considering Maxwell’s overall consistency last campaign and subsequent one-year contract renewal, it was enough to prompt Digne to push for a move away.
PSG will have been mindful that the player still has plenty of potential, though, so although they might not have stood in the way had a permanent offer arrived, the option of a loan spell in Italy with Roma should suit both Digne and Les Parisiens better.
A temporary move with such a sizeable potential buyout fee benefits PSG because the chances are high that Roma will ultimately not pay it and that the Frenchman will return to the Ligue 1 champions next summer.
During that time, PSG will benefit from Maxwell’s final year of service and Digne will receive valuable regular first-team games under the guidance of his former Lille coach Rudi Garcia, winning back his place in Deschamps’ France squad if all goes well.
After Euro 2016 on home soil, Digne will likely return to the French capital to find Maxwell gone and a new player to compete with for the starting left-back role.
The chances are that this new left-back will not be as experienced or as consistent as Maxwell, so Digne’s likelihood of winning the spot are greater than they are at present up against the Brazilian.
Who could PSG bring in to fill Digne’s understudy role this season then?
AS Monaco’s Layvin Kurzawa is one of the names that has been most frequently linked with the French champions, and per GOAL.fr’s Naim Beneddra and Loic Tanzi (in French), he is one of two names being seriously considered by PSG.
It is easy to see why. Also 22, the Monegasque talent is another of France’s great hopes at left-back, and he has already attracted plenty of interest.
Kurzawa’s style of play is more attacking than Digne’s, but the France international’s experience considerably outweighs his positional rival’s as well.
The Monaco man is into his third straight season as an undisputed Ligue 1 starter, and he is also entering a second consecutive UEFA Champions League campaign under Leonardo Jardim.
Digne is yet to taste that sort of regularity at PSG, and he is unlikely to before Euro 2016 with Maxwell around. In Rome, it will be a different story, though.
If PSG can lure Kurzawa from Stade Louis II to Parc des Princes, the Frenchman is more likely to be able to challenge Maxwell for the starting role and possibly usurp the South American before the end of term.
The fact that he is also a senior international would surely count in his favour as the capital club attempt to keep the French influence on the squad at its current level.
However, the issue with Kurzawa is likely to be his price and with three years remaining on his contract in the principality, ASM would almost certainly demand a high price.
Despite shelling out €63 million to sign Angel Di Maria this summer, anything above €15 million is likely to be seen as too expensive by the PSG leadership and Kurzawa would realistically command upwards of €20 million.
The Frenchman’s steep price tag is probably the main reason why FC Lorient’s Raphael Guerreiro is the French press’ favourite to be signed by PSG to replace Digne.
According to GOAL.fr’s Naim Beneddra and Loic Tanzi (in French), Les Merlus’ exciting left-back turned left-sided midfielder is the other option the capital club are giving serious consideration to and it is easy to see why.
Kurzawa’s six goals and seven assists in Ligue 1 since Monaco returned to Ligue 1 are impressive, but after his conversion from left-back to more attacking left-midfield and left-wing berths, Guerreiro scored seven times and provided four assists alone last season.
The 21-year-old was one of the Breton outfit’s main reasons for surviving in Ligue 1.
As a reward, Portugal swooped and made the former Stade Malherbe Caen man a full international after playing a handful of matches at under-21 level following his move to Stade du Moustoir in the same summer Digne joined PSG.
Guerreiro made a goalscoring start to life at senior level with the Portuguese in late 2014, netting in a 1-0 win over Argentina at Old Trafford in only his second appearance.
He then played a key role for the under-21 side this summer as they went all the way to the final of this summer’s UEFA European Under-21 Championship before they were ultimately beaten by Sweden on penalties.
Taking into account the fact that Guerreiro is one year younger than Digne and Kurzawa, arguably more attacking threat than both of them and a Frenchman who can communicate in Portuguese—useful in a PSG squad densely populated with Brazilian talent—the Lorient man is probably the better fit.
Kurzawa would not be prepared to wait too long for a chance to take Maxwell’s starting role with Euro 2016 on the horizon, while Guerreiro is itching to make the step up to continue his development and would likely be more patient.
A move back to Paris—Guerreiro hails from the Parisian suburb of Le Blanc-Mesnil—might also appeal to the Portugal international. However, if PSG want the talented left-sided gem, they will need to move quickly.
According to AS (h/t Sports Mole’s Matt Law), Spanish giants Atletico Madrid are also keen on Guerreiro and are keen to meet his £7 million (€9.9. million) asking price.
Should PSG miss out on one or both of Kurzawa and Guerreiro or decide against them, the other options are SSC Napoli’s Algeria international Faouzi Ghoulam or Sevilla’s France international Benoit Tremoulinas, according to France Football’s Nabil Djellit and Mathieu Gregoire.
Manchester City’s France international Gael Clichy was also mentioned in the same report, while Tuttomercatoweb (h/t Forza Italian Football’s Liam Stewart) claim that Zenit Saint Petersburg’s Cristian Ansaldi is the man Les Parisiens are lining up to replace Digne.
The agent of Galatasaray's Alex Telles has also told Eurosport Turkey (h/t ESPN FC) that PSG have registered their interest in the Brazilian.
All four of those names make some sense, but Kurzawa and Guerreiro appear to be the main leads and it is likely that one of the two will be at Parc des Princes come the end of this month—assuming that Digne completes his Roma move.
Considering all of PSG’s potential options, two France-based stars are the best possible replacements and Guerreiro perhaps the best of all of them.
However, if money is not an issue, moving for Monaco’s Kurzawa would not only land the French champions an excellent replacement, it would also deal a blow to their most likely Ligue 1 title contenders this season.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
