Rafael Benitez has no regrets over Lucas Digne’s exit from Everton

Rafael Benitez has taken a fresh swipe at Lucas Digne after selling the France international, a move he says has allowed Everton to balance both his squad and the financial books at Goodison Park.

“If you’re in a boat and someone is not rowing with the strength that you are expecting then you have to make your decision.

“The realities are when you have a player that is thinking to leave and then you have an offer, a possibility.

“We brought in a couple of good young players, hungry players.

“It was part of the deal with Digne when we started the conversations,” said Benitez, speaking ahead of Saturday’s Premier League game at Norwich.

“We were thinking about the Covid situation, possible injuries, the Africa Cup of Nations with (Alex) Iwobi away and bringing in someone with quality who could give us different options.

But they have games in hand on most of the teams directly above them and Benitez says his squad is now close to full-strength.

“We have players coming back, still not fully fit and people have to understand that match fitness comes with games,” he added.

“We are quite confident that we have people coming back, and if we have some wins we will be in a much better position and play the way we want to play.”.