Gary Neville has claimed that it was a ‘shocker’ from Everton to sell Lucas Digne to Aston Villa and then sack Rafa Benitez days later, as he told the Overlap.
During the January transfer window, to the surprise of many, Digne, one of Everton’s best players, headed for the exit door and signed on the dotted line for Steven Gerrard’s Villa.
The France international had a falling out with Benitez and it was Villa who picked up the pieces, and they now have a top-quality left-back on their books.
It was just a number of questionable calls made at Goodison Park, as Everton survived relegation to the Championship by the skin of their teeth.
That Digne sale was up there in one of those crazy moments of the campaign for the club and it was spoken about by Neville when discussing Everton’s season.
“That was a shocker that,” said Neville. “Selling him (Digne), then sacking Benitez. That was unbelievable.
“That just told you how bad it was. They sold Lucas Digne and then basically three days later, they sacked the manager and got rid of one of your best players. It’s a shocker.”
DIGNE SALE SUMMED UP EVERTON’S SEASON
An ex-Liverpool boss in Benitez selling one of Everton’s best players to an Anfield legend, you just couldn’t make it up.
The 2021/22 campaign will go down as one of Everton’s worst and one they will want to forget pretty quickly.
But whilst they forget, Gerrard and Co. have a France international on their hands that is capable of taking them into Europe next season.
Will it happen? Well, signing Philippe Coutinho on a permanent basis certainly helps and the free-transfer capture of Boubacar Kamara.
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