Everton boss Rafa Benitez has explained offloading Lucas Digne to Aston Villa.

The fullback left for Villa with Anwar El Ghazi moving in the opposite direction.

Benitez said, "The reality is that if you have a player who thinking about leaving and you have an offer, the main thing for me as a manager is it to think about my responsibilities to make decisions for the best for the team and the club and future.

"We bought a couple of young players who are good and hungry.

"I am sure they will be good now and even better in future.

"In the end it is positive for the club when you sell a player who is 29 next year and bring in player who is 22 and in different positions that we needed to balance."

On more additions this month, Benitez continued: "We are always hoping to strengthen the squad, we will try and do the best for us.

"The reality is that we balance the books and it will be positive for the future. We will be open to options.

"It's good we brought in three players and we have to make sure competition allows us to win games.

"We are open minded and if we can bring anyone else who can help the team we are happy to do that."