Everton sign Barcelona defender for £18m on long-term deal

Joe Williams
Lucas Digne Barcelona

Premier League side Everton have completed the signing of left-back Lucas Digne from Barcelona for a reported £18million.

The 25-year-old, who has signed a five-year deal, becomes manager Marco Silva’s second recruit for the Toffees after the capture of forward Richarlison from Watford.

Digne told evertontv: “Everton is a big club with a great history. I want to play games, win games and excite the fans with the quality of our football.”

“I played good football in Rome and I played well, too, in Barcelona. I progressed a lot as a player and as a person by playing with the best players in the world.

“When you play with the best players it helps you build your character and, of course, it helps on the training ground and during games, too, because you want to give the best of you.

“I want to show my best football here and discover the best league in the world. Everybody loves the Premier League. I am loving the fact I am coming here.

“I am not afraid, I am excited. For me, it is a new challenge to discover a country, a league, people and a great club such as Everton. It is fabulous.”

And Silva is excited to work with Digne who he says has “clear quality” and an impressive CV.

“It is important to say that he is a player who, from the first moment he was contacted, showed enormous desire to play at Everton,” Silva said.

“He is a high-quality player, aggressive, with good technical ability and in the past five seasons he has played two years at Paris St-Germain, one in Roma and for the past two seasons he has demonstrated his clear quality in Barcelona.

“Lucas is a player who will add competitiveness in a position where we only had Leighton Baines last season and he is accustomed to winning. This is his mentality having captured titles in his career and having these on his résumé.”