Everton are set to face a battle if they want to hold on to Lucas Digne this summer, with a nouveau-riche Nice outfit determined to make the France international a marquee signing in the off-season according to Le10 Sport.
The days of scrimping and saving, making do and mending, appear to be over on the French riviera.
Manager Patrick Vieira has worked wonders on a shoestring budget in the last two years. But the summer of 2020 is shaping up to be very different for Nice fans everywhere.
The Ligue 1 outfit now have the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe pulling the strings from above. And the deep pockets of Britain’s Richest Man threaten to turn the Eagles into a Ligue 1 force; potentially one capable of challenging Paris Saint-Germain’s domestic dominance.
According to Le10 Sport, Nice have around £70 million set aside to spend on new players. Although it remains to be seen if they would be willing to spend most of that to bring former PSG flyer Digne back to France.
Everton will be desperate to keep hold of a set-piece specialist who has shone at Goodison Park since arriving from Barcelona two years ago. And a mooted offer of £25 million is hardly likely to get the Toffees around the table.
With a paucity of genuinely top-level left-backs in the game today, Everton could probably afford to demand somewhere closer to £40 or £50 million for a man who has contributed 13 goals and assists from the flank since the start of last season.
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