Luis Enrique is backing Lucas Digne through a slow start at Paris Saint Germain. The left-back has made only 3 Ligue 1 appearances for PSG this season, with 166 minutes played, but the coach says he will still matter once his adaptation improves.
Luis Enrique's message on Digne
Speaking to Foot Mercato, Luis Enrique said: "These are things you can explain however you want. Maybe some players adapt better to what we do. Maybe you think he will adapt because he is French, because he has experience. But I am sure he will be important."
He added, in the same interview, that PSG are "ready to look for ways to reduce this adaptation time to find the best version of Lucas Digne". That is the line the club seems to be following with a signing that cost €7 million from Aston Villa.
Digne's place in the squad
The numbers explain why the patience talk matters. Digne has only 1 Champions League appearance and 26 minutes in Europe, while he was left out for the visit of Monaco at the start of September, less than a month after his signing.
There is still some uncertainty around how far down the left-back pecking order he has fallen. So Foot says he has slipped to third or even fourth place, while Foot Mercato is less precise and points to Lucas Hernandez and even Warren Zaïre-Emery being preferred in recent selections. What is clear is that PSG have not rushed him, and Luis Enrique is not treating the start as a verdict.
PSG are first in Ligue 1 after 8 matches, which gives them room to keep managing Digne carefully. They go to Le Havre on Friday at 19:00 for the 9th round, and the next selection call will tell more than the noise around his first few weeks in Paris.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
