Newcastle United’s hopes of signing Everton defender Lucas Digne are under threat after Chelsea joined the race to sign him in January.
Newcastle face Chelsea battle for Digne
The Sunday Mirror (19/12, p68) claim that Newcastle want to bring Digne to St James’ Park in January.
Newcastle see Digne as a star who can help them avoid relegation whilst providing a real attacking threat to Eddie Howe’s side.
Digne hasn’t been in Rafael Benitez’s Everton plans of late and looks set to leave in January. Everton have already agreed to sign a new left back in Dynamo Kiev star Vitaliy Mykolenko.
The problem for Newcastle is that Digne has other suitors in the Premier League.
Chelsea are believed to have joined the race, with Leicester City also keen on a January deal.
Chelsea have lost Ben Chilwell to a major injury, meaning Marcos Alonso is the only natural left wing back option for Thomas Tuchel.
Signing Digne to then sell Alonso in the summer and have the Frenchman competing with Chilwell long-term makes sense for Chelsea.
Leicester have Luke Thomas and Ryan Bertrand but may simply feel Digne – branded ‘fantastic’ by Marco Silva – is too good to pass up.
With Newcastle battling relegation, fighting off two European regulars for Digne won’t be easy, and have to hope that PIF can come up with the money to tempt him.
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