Aston Villa benefit from 'very strange' £25m transfer decision

Everton’s decision to sell Lucas Digne to Aston Villa has been questioned by pundit Noel Whelan, who says it has left the Toffees in "a bit of a mess".

The left-back joined Villa for a fee of around £25million after falling out of favour under former manager Rafa Benitez.

Just days after Digne completed his move to Villa, Benitez left Goodison Park, with former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard replacing him.

Digne has played the full 90 minutes of every Villa Premier League game since moving to Villa Park, providing an assist for the winning goal over his former club at the end of last month.

Everton have won just one league game since parting ways with the full-back with Jonjoe Kenny playing out of position in the left-back role for the last two games, selected ahead of January signing Vitaliy Mykolenko.

The decision to sell Digne has now been questioned by Whelan.

“It was such a strange decision to sell Digne,” he told Football Insider .

“Unfortunately for Frank Lampard, it was out of his hands. It was a choice made in the final throes of Rafa Benitez’s time in charge.

“If Frank could turn back time now, there’s absolutely no way he’d sell Digne. He’s one of the best full-backs in the country.

“It was a very strange decision to let Benitez sell him and then sack the manager just days later.

"His replacement Mykolenko hasn’t worked out, and they’re now stuck in a bit of a mess at left-back.”