Aston Villa are leading the race to sign France defender Lucas Digne from Everton.
Rafa Benitez wants £30million for Digne and Villa are prepared to pay up for the left-back to reunite him with his old Barcelona pal Philippe Coutinho at Villa Park.
Digne, 28, was not keen on Newcastle ’s offer, while Chelsea, who are looking for a replacement for the injured Ben Chilwell, are only willing to sign him on loan.
Benitez is insisting on a permanent cash deal this window to generate funds for his own transfer kitty, which leaves Villa in the box seat to land Digne.
Villa have the cash to buy Digne and the former Paris St Germain and Roma defender is understood to be excited by the club’s ambition under Steven Gerrard.
Digne reluctantly knows he must leave Goodison Park three-and-a-half years after joining from Barcelona for £18million because he has been exiled to the wilderness by Benitez.
Digne is one of the Premier League ’s best attacking full-backs and fell out with Benitez over tactics.
Benitez took Digne’s comments as a criticism of his coaching and is determined to offload him this month.
Digne is highly coveted and has attracted interest from the likes of Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and Napoli.
But they are only willing to propose loan agreements and Benitez will only sanction a permanent deal.
