Jesse Lingard: What's next?

By @UtdNiamh, published on 10/09/21

Jesse Lingard's career looked dead in the water last January before getting a loan to David Moyes's West Ham. He made sure he didn't let the opportunity go past him and made a late run for player of the season. It looked almost certain that he would make the permanent switch to the Hammers in the summer, but the transfer never happened, and with only 12 months remaining on his deal, we look at the next step in Jesse's career.

Why did Lingard stay?

During the summer, the links were rampant about the switch to West Ham, but no deal was made during the last couple of days of the window, and he stayed at Old Trafford. He wanted to fight for his place among our forward line, which seems tricky to do knowing our depth in the positions he plays. At CAM, he'll have to compete with Bruno Fernandes and Donny Van De Beek, and on the right, he will have to battle with Jadon Sancho, which will not be easy.

Not wanting to renew his contract.

Strangely enough, Tuesday evening reports start to surface about the 28-year-old refusing to sign a new deal at the club; he wants reassurance that he will get game time, which begs the question, why did he stay at the club if game time was a problem? If United doesn't get him to sign a new deal, he can negotiate with foreign clubs on the first of January 2022.

Next steps

As I said above, he can negotiate with clubs from outside England from the first of January. There is always a chance he could be sold with a fee in that month, with West Ham still interested in the midfielder and several other English clubs. He wants game time, so the chances of staying are slim, but in football, you never know.

For Jesse's sake, I hope he leaves. The guy deserves regular football somewhere that will suit him, but Jesse will always be a Red no matter what happens.

Niamh Maguire