Gary Neville has told his self-titled podcast that he is shocked West Ham United were able to get hold of Jesse Lingard so easily.
West Ham appeared to face little competition to sign Lingard on loan from Manchester United in January.
Their decision to land the attacking midfielder has already paid dividends though, as he has been a quite brilliant addition.
Lingard has netted three goals in his first four West Ham matches, and was on the scoresheet as David Moyes’s men beat Tottenham Hotspur yesterday.
And Neville admits that he is surprised more teams didn’t rival West Ham for his signature.
“If he was at West Ham to start with you’d be saying should other clubs be looking at him? Because he starts at Manchester United it goes the other way, people start going he’s not good enough for United and it becomes like a negative conversation,” he said.
“Jesse Lingard is going to have a fantastic football career. I’m surprised other clubs didn’t look at him as well, but he’s done well to go to West Ham.”
In fairness to West Ham, they did take a risk by bringing Lingard in.
The Hammers paid a sizeable wage fee and contributed a significant amount to his wages to bring him to the London Stadium.
Lingard had barely featured this season, so there was some question marks over whether he would be up to speed upon his arrival.
However, the England international’s class has already been abundantly clear, and already there is talk that his move to West Ham could be made into a permanent one.
Lingard’s strong showings have helped West Ham climb into the top four, with Moyes’s side making brilliant progress this term.
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