'Fight for the club' - Everton manager Rafael Benitez casts doubt over defender Lucas Digne illness claims
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Published 16/12/2021 at 11:14 GMT
Lucas Digne has not featured for Everton in their last two games but was expected to return for Thursday evening's match with Chelsea. He has pulled out with illness. However, manager Rafael Benitez has implied that the French international may not be ill when he talked about making sure that players who are picked want to play for the club.
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Everton manager Rafael Benitez has hinted that Lucas Digne’s claims to be ill are hard to prove.
Digne was due to be available for the club’s match with Chelsea on Thursday night, but will not be selected after telling the Spaniard he is unwell.
The French international defender had been dropped for the last two games for the club but when he returned to training on Tuesday, he ruled himself out of Thursday’s game.
There have been reports that Digne and Benitez are at odds, something that Benitez has failed to deny, but he implied that the player may not be committed to the club.
“Lucas Digne is a good player, he was an important player for us and yesterday we did a training session and he was in the 11 starters,” Benitez said.
"Today, he said he is ill and not available for tomorrow. It is not that I believe or not.
“I have been in football for so many years and I have so many experiences similar to this one and it is a question of making a decision.
I have to be sure that the players that will be there tomorrow want to be there and they want to fight for the club.
Everton have lost seven of their last 10 games after a bright start to the season, but Benitez believes he has the support of the Everton hierarchy.
“I was talking with Mr [Farhad] Moshiri this morning,” Benitez said.
“I also have meetings with the chairman and the chief exec and they are supporting me. They have experienced changing managers, they have experienced trying to adapt things, and it was not working.
“Which is the feeling of the last years for any Everton fan – success or frustration? You know the answer. They know the problems are not ones we can fix in just five months.”
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