Lucas Digne: Rafa Benitez says Everton defender must be team player and might have to wait for recall
Ben Godfrey replaced Lucas Digne against Arsenal and might keep his place - Rafa Benitez: "We need all the players around because that increases the competition but at the same time everyone has to be focused and realise the priority has to be the team."
Friday 10 December 2021 15:47, UK
Everton boss Rafa Benitez has called on Lucas Digne to put the team first and was non-committal on the defender facing Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Digne was left out of Monday's exciting win over Arsenal at Goodison Park, which saw Everton end an eight-game winless streak, amid talk that he had fallen out with Benitez.
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The Frenchman, who has since played down such talk, trained with the first-team squad this week but Benitez would not confirm at his pre-match media conference whether a recall was in the offing.
"It is clear: the manager decides," Benitez said. "He has been training today [Friday]. It is a normal situation with the player training and we will see tomorrow if he is available or not.
"We need all the players around because that increases the competition but at the same time everyone has to be focused and realise the priority has to be the team.
"What he has to do is ensure he continues working hard and the team is ahead of any individual.
"I don't want to talk too much about individuals, it is not fair for the group. The team was doing really well with different players on the pitch the other day so we can do it."
Benitez also talked up Digne's replacement against the Gunners - Ben Godfrey - who moved over to the left and nullified much of the threat expected to come from his England team-mate Bukayo Saka.
"Very good. He was one of the key points for us in terms of getting the three points," was Benitez's assessment of the defender's performance.
"Everybody knows how dangerous Saka is, he was controlling him quite well."
