Emery has been at Aston Villa for almost two years, and in that time, he has greatly accelerated the growth of many people.
Under Steven Gerrard, Ezri Konsa was a shell of the player he used to be; but, under a top-tier manager, Konsa has emerged as one of England’s best defenders.
Not only has the 26-year-old had a notable uptick in his growth, but Morgan Rogers, Jhon Duran, and Ollie Watkins have also benefited from Emery’s management prowess.
Another gifted operator who can legitimately be included in the list above is Lucas Digne, a Frenchman who has seen his career take a major turn under Emery.
The 31-year-old is currently playing his greatest football while wearing a Villa shirt, after previously receiving criticism from certain supporters who didn’t think he was good enough.
Digne participated in 33 Premier League games the previous season, recording one goal and three assists.
In his first five games of 2024–2025, the former Barcelona left-back has almost surpassed the goal involvements listed above, helping Duran in the victory over Leicester City and Watkins against Everton.
Examining the data in more detail reveals that the French international is already surpassing his attacking and defensive performance from the previous campaign.
Considering that the right column represents five games played, while the left represents 33, Digne has almost matched his assist total while averaging more accurate passes, interceptions, tackles, and clearances per game.
That is a slight improvement above the guy they acquired for £25 million in January 2022 from Everton, and Ian Maatsen will have a hard time replacing him.
Many anticipated that Maatsen, who cost £37.5 million to acquire from Chelsea in the summer, would replace Digne in the left-back position right away, but he has had to wait for starts.
The Dutchman started his first game of the season in Tuesday night’s victory over Wycombe Wanderers. He has five Premier League appearances off the bench.
Despite being playing some of his finest football ever while wearing a Villa jersey, Digne, 22, has encountered more obstacles than he had anticipated.
Emery currently prefers Digne for that job, which speaks volumes about how much he’s grown over the last 12 months.