French defender Lucas Digne has left FC Barcelona to sign with English club Everton for the next five seasons. Both teams announced the transfer on Wednesday.
Digne has signed with Everton until June 2023, the English team stated in a press release.
The English club "will pay FC Barcelona 20.2 million euros (23.6 million dollars), plus 1.5 million in variables," added Barcelona in a statement.
The French full-back, who is currently with the Barcelona team in the United States, is leaving Camp Nou, where he arrived two seasons ago in the summer of 2016.
During those two seasons, the French player played 45 matches and, although he won the previous league, two Copa del Rey titles, and a Supercopa de España, his lack of playing time led him to express his desire to leave the club, according to Spanish media.
The 25-year-old French player, who was on the reserve list for the French national team during the World Cup in Russia, which they won, had already said goodbye to the Catalan club in a letter posted on social media, even before the transfer became official.
"In the last two years, it has been a dream of a child that I have been able to fulfill. I want to say thank you to everyone," he wrote in his own Spanish.
"Being in the locker room with the best players in the world has been incredible, I can only thank everyone," he said, quoted in Barcelona's statement.
Now the full-back begins a new chapter, after also playing for Lille, his original club, PSG, and Roma.
"I'm not scared, I'm excited. For me, it's a new challenge to discover a country, a league, a people, and a great club like Everton. It's fabulous," said Digne, in an interview with the English club's television.
(AFP)