Lucas Digne’s Struggles at PSG: A Troubling Start
Lucas Digne’s second life at the Parc des Princes has stalled almost before it began.
Barely weeks after arriving from Aston Villa on a long-term deal running to 2029, the 33-year-old has been dropped from the Paris Saint-Germain squad for Friday night’s meeting with Monaco, with Luis Enrique making the call to leave him out entirely.
This is not about contracts or reputations. According to L’Equipe, the omission is down purely to “sporting reasons” after an underwhelming start to his return in PSG colours. Enrique has seen enough in the opening weeks to press pause.
The warning signs were there from day one. Digne watched the Ligue 1 opener against Rennes from the bench and never moved, an unused substitute on a night when he might reasonably have expected to relaunch his Paris career. His first competitive minutes only arrived a week later at Lille, sent on in the 71st minute with PSG already 2-0 down and chasing a game that had slipped away.
The late drama in that match papered over some cracks for the team, but not for Digne. PSG clawed back a point with goals in the first and fifth minutes of stoppage time, a wild finish that rescued the result. Yet within the staff’s internal debrief, his brief cameo clearly did not convince. Those limited minutes appear to have shaped Enrique’s judgment, leading to a full exclusion from the squad for Monaco and hinting at a growing disconnect over the defender’s place in the project.
The timing makes the decision even more striking. PSG are in the middle of a mini-crisis at left-back. Nuno Mendes, the undisputed starter on that flank, is suspended domestically after receiving a straight red card against Lens in the Trophee des Champions before the league campaign kicked off. That dismissal ruled the Portugal international out of the first three Ligue 1 fixtures, theoretically clearing a runway for Digne.
On paper, it should have been the perfect opening: Mendes out, a vacancy on the left, a returning French international eager to prove he has unfinished business in Paris. Instead, the door has been slammed shut. Enrique has turned to the versatility of Lucas Beraldo and Lucas Hernandez, both natural centre-backs, to cover the left side of the back four rather than entrust the role to a specialist.
For Digne, it is a brutal early verdict. For PSG, it is a clear statement about standards under Enrique.
