Lucas Digne escalates bitter Rafa Benitez row with fresh barrage following Everton exit

Lucas Digne has intensified his hostile relations with Rafa Benitez by accusing the former Everton manager of "protecting himself" with made-up claims to the media.

Digne, 28, left the Toffees to join Aston Villa in the January transfer window after a bitter disagreement with Benitez which resulted in his exclusion from the matchday squad. The left-back had been one of Everton's most important players following his arrival from Barcelona in 2018 but Benitez dropped him and later explained this was because he was "thinking about leaving".

The Spaniard also accused his player of putting individual statistics ahead of the team and he was duly sold for £25million to the club's Premier League rivals. In his parting message to the Goodison Park faithful, Digne said: "Sometimes it only takes one person from outside to destroy a beautiful love affair."

And in a fresh tirade against Benitez, the France international has declared the allegations made against him are completely false and he "never asked" to leave. "It was a way for him to protect himself. I never asked for that," Digne told L'Equipe . "People who know me at the club know that everything was going very well." The former Roma and Paris Saint-Germain star also confessed his relationship with Benitez was "not good" but credited compatriot Raphael Varane, who plays for Manchester United, with helping him through the "unprecedented situation".

"I lived three and a half years of happiness and love with the (Everton) supporters," Digne added. "I had, and still have, a great relationship with them, with people at the club, my former teammates. But I don't look back. Football is like that. One day everything is fine, the next month it is less so. And you have to