OPINION
West Ham may receive a boost for their clash with Everton as Toffees’ defender Lucas Digne doesn’t appear to be 100% fit based on France manager Didier Deschamp’s remarks.
The 25-year-old left-back is currently away on international duty and Deschamp revealed that the Toffees player was an unused substitute in the 4-1 win over Moldova due to a thigh issue.
“Lucas felt a complication in his thigh,” said the France boss, as quoted by RMC Sport, (Translated by Goal).
“There is no injury but it was not possible to use him.”
While Deschamp is quick to point out there’s no injury to Digne, he did avoid using him so that proves he is sweating over the fitness of the 25-year-old.
If there is more to Digne’s thigh injury then meets the eye than that could see him unavailable for the Toffees’ first game after the international break which is against West Ham in a week’s time.
This would be music to Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini’s ears if there’s a chance the defender won’t be a 100% fit to face his side as the 25-year-old has proven to be a very important player for the Toffees.
Digne has featured 30 times for Marco Silva’s side across all competition and due to him looking strong going forward as well as being a reliable defensive presence, he makes the position of left-back his own at Goodison Park.
Last season the Toffees struggled to have a reliable left-back in place as Cuco Martina featured their regularly out of position due to Leighton Baines being rooted to the sidelines for several games due to injury.
In fact the veteran left-back aside from his strong end to the 2017/18 campaign actually struggled to deliver the goods and looked like time had caught up with him in his outings.
So when you consider how Digne has become vital for the Toffees, the Hammers will be given a boost if Digne is either not fit enough to feature or is not at 100% for the first league game back after the international break.
