Jesse Lingard is ‘giving up’ on his Manchester United career, with a move back to West Ham United now looking increasingly likely.
That’s according to transfer insider Dean Jones, who was speaking on The Football Terrace on Tuesday.
Jones claims that Lingered is starting to realise that he won’t be an important player under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this season.
He doesn’t want to fade into the background once again at Old Trafford, and West Ham are now making their move, with Jones claiming a return to East London is now ‘quite likely’.
“Lingard looks like he’s giving up now on staying at United,” said Jones. “West Ham are back on the tails of him, see if they can get him in. I think that is quite likely, from what I’m told, that that does end up happening.”
“Lingard is starting to accept that there is no way in at United, and after what happened at West Ham last season for him, and the way they’ve started this season, it’s a great fit for him,” he added.
Lingard, 28, played just four minutes in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Southampton, and that appears to have been the final straw.
The attacking midfielder spent the second half of last season on loan at West Ham, hitting nine goals and four assists in just 16 league outings.
David Moyes quite simply got the best out of Lingard. He was so good that even Gianfranco Zola was lauding him as a ‘total player’.
Lingard got himself back in the England picture, something that will almost certainly disappear if he is stuck not playing at United.
There isn’t long left for West Ham to get a deal done with less than a week of the transfer window to go, but expect the Hammers to make a big push.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
