Lucas Digne has been speaking to the Daily Star about life at Aston Villa so far, where he’s been left impressed by Steven Gerrard.
What’s the story?
Well, Digne wasn’t actually speaking about the 41-year-old from a managerial point of view, but instead how he plays in training.
The Frenchman revealed that Gerrard sometimes joins in at Bodymoor Heath, where he has “lost nothing” from his playing days.
Digne said: “He sometimes takes part in the training sessions. He has lost nothing. He’s still really amazing and his passes are incredible.”
That doesn’t surprise us in the slightest.
Gerrard only retired in 2016, so we’re sure he still has plenty of technical ability and energy left in the tank.
Furthermore, when the Aston Villa players see their manager directly involved in sessions, it presumably helps them raise their level as well.
After all, it will be far more apparent who is putting the work in if Gerrard is directly involved in the drills.
Steven Gerrard has transformed Aston Villa
In such a short space of time, Gerrard has injected a huge amount of excitement and freshness into Villa Park.
The £5m-a-year man (£96,153-a-week) enjoyed a brilliant first transfer window, signing the likes of Digne and Philippe Coutinho – both of whom are huge upgrades.
Gerrard has also started to get more from Emiliano Buendia and Jacob Ramsey, who are linking well in midfield.
He has also shown his ruthless side when offloading Matt Targett in place of Digne, despite the fact he was named Player’s Player of the Season last year.
If this is what Gerrard has achieved just weeks into his role in the Midlands, we’re excited to see what the future holds for Aston Villa.
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