Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye has revealed that he is "excited" about linking up with Lucas Digne.

Digne, who joined Everton from Barcelona on a five-year deal last week, made his debut in the Toffees' 3-2 pre-season defeat to Valencia on Saturday.

The pair played together at Lille before Digne departed for Paris Saint-Germain in 2013, and Gueye told Everton's official website that he is looking forward to playing alongside the Frenchman again.

"I was excited as soon as I heard Lucas might be coming to Everton," the midfielder said. "I know him very well from our time at Lille. He is a good young player and, hopefully, he will show what he can do in our team.

"He is a really strong left-back – his standout feature is the quality of his defending. It is tough to dribble past him. He is very good at one-on-one defending. He can go forward and be dangerous in attack but he gets back quickly. And his crossing is excellent. It lifts everybody to see players of this quality coming in and helps the team a lot.

"We want these types of players to help us achieve what we want this season. We are determined to improve on last year and the manager is strengthening the squad."

Everton's first Premier League fixture is against newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.