EXCLUSIVE | ‘He’s made a case… but it’s not going to be easy’ – Alan Hutton on whether Lucas Digne should start for France

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Former Scotland international and Aston Villa fullback Alan Hutton sat down with Get French Football News to talk about France internationals Lucas Digne and Boubacar Kamara.

Thinking more about Aston Villa, we’ve seen Lucas Digne make the France squad. Do you think he’s made a case this season to be the starting left-back at the World Cup?

Yeah, I think he’s made a case. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to Didier Deschamps and how he wants to play. Digne at Villa, I think this was the situation as well. When Unai Emery wanted somebody who could defend and get forward now and then, put crosses into the box, use his delivery, then that was fine. But Ian Maatsen would come in when he needed somebody a bit more attacking. I think that’s the same situation for France. You’ve got Theo Hernandez, who is just out-and-out attacking. If you need that type of player, he might play. If you need someone a little bit more solid defensively, then they might put Digne in. There’s plenty of competition within that squad. I think they’ll go all the way and win the tournament. It’s not going to be easy for Digne, but I think he’s had a really good season, finished on a massive high [winning the UEFA Europa Conference League], and his confidence will be high as well.

It feels like Boubacar Kamara could have been in and around the France squad if not for his nasty recurrent injury problems. How big of a miss was he for Villa?

It’s been a huge miss. A massive shame for him. I was actually at the game against Tottenham where he injured his knee. It didn’t look great, and you just felt for him because it was at a time when he was injured, Youri Tielemans was out, and John McGinn was also out, and the form dipped – and it didn’t surprise me. Kamara’s like the glue; he holds everything together. He’ll receive the ball in tight spaces. He’ll get it from the back four; he’ll get it from the keeper. How Emery wants to play, and then he links things, getting the ball to the players that will do the damage, like Tielemans or Morgan Rogers. He was a huge miss, and I do feel that if he continued in his form and didn’t get injured, he would definitely be in with a shout of being in that squad, as I believe he’s that good.

Alan Hutton was speaking exclusively to GFFN on behalf of Best Betting Bonuses .

GFFN | Nick Hartland