Aston Villa could reportedly be without left-back Lucas Digne for some weeks after the defender picked up an ankle injury whilst away with France on international duty. According to L’Equipe, the 29-year-old defender could be missing ‘for weeks’ after scans discovered that Digne had fractured his ankle shortly after arriving with the France squad at Clairfontaine for the September international break, adding to Steve Gerrard’s injury problems.

Boubacar Kamara was injured in Villa’s last Premier League game match against Southampton, with the summer signing joining Diego Carlos on the treatment table after the Brazilian ruptured his ACL, ruling the defender out for essentially the rest of the season. With Matty Cash also out with a thigh injury, Digne also coming down with a problem adds to Gerrard’s increasing problems with the Villa squad, with the Premier League essentially having three of their best back-four all out on the sideline for some time.

Signed from Everton in January for a reported £25m, Digne was in with a good shot of making France’s FIFA World Cup squad heading to Qatar later this year, however, this injury could cause some problems for the defender’s hopes of being selected by Didier Deschamps in November. Indeed, Digne missing out on the World Cup could be a massive blow for the defender’s confidence, and picking up an injury at this stage of the season is the last thing the left-back would have wanted, with Villa now also set to feel the effects of missing yet another key defender.

Whilst France have already moved to replace Digne with reported Everton and West Ham target Adrien Truffert, Villa are in some serious trouble if their starting left-back is out for a few weeks, with Gerrard’s side facing off against the likes of Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea straight after the international break.