Lucas Digne had the chance to show Newcastle United what they could’ve won on Sunday. Instead, he proved that the Magpies haven’t missed out at all.
The Frenchman was heavily linked with Newcastle during the January transfer window, amid a fallout with then-Everton boss Rafa Benitez.
However, Digne reportedly wasn’t sure on a move to St James’ Park and instead joined Aston Villa for £25million.
That deal had ramifications for Newcastle, as it allowed them to sign Matt Targett on loan on deadline day. However, he wasn’t available to play on Sunday against his parent club.
Digne did feature though, and struggled to prove that Newcastle are worse off for not signing him last month.
Newcastle better off with Matt Targett than Lucas Digne
There were a lot of poor performances in Villa shirts on Sunday, and one of them came from Digne. The left-back was neither an attacking presence or a defensive force at St James’ Park.
His defending was often questioned at Everton, and Digne has done nothing to suggest those problems have gone away.
Ryan Fraser had the better of him for the majority of the afternoon, causing real problems with his speed and intense pressing.
In contrast, Targett produced a wonderful debut against Everton last week, and his presence will be a welcome return away to West Ham on Saturday.
Targett showed fight and a willingness to dig in and defend on his first Newcastle appearance. But we saw nothing like that from Digne in an Aston Villa shirt.
The Magpies need fighters to avoid relegation to the Championship. We’ve got that in Targett, but the same wouldn’t have been said if we signed Digne.
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