West Ham United continue to be linked with Jesse Lingard – and you could hardly blame Nikola Vlasic for feeling confused.
Don’t get it twisted – we know Lingard was truly outstanding in his loan spell at West Ham last season.
Lingard took East London by storm. With nine goals and four assists in just 16 league outings, Lingard became a firm favourite at West Ham.
Rumours followed him all summer – was he going back to West Ham? Had he worked his way back in at Manchester United?
In the end, neither.
West Ham couldn’t strike a deal, so Lingard was stuck at United
Lingard hasn’t started a single league game this season, but did remind West Ham fans of his quality with the winner for United at the London Stadium in September.
The Sun now claim that Lingard is getting ready to join West Ham again in January, believing his return will finally go through.
That is exciting in one sense, but confusing in another.
West Ham just splashed £25million on Nikola Vlasic. The Croatian was brought in seemingly because Lingard didn’t come back.
Just months on, Vlasic could be pushed even further down the pecking order at West Ham.
Vlasic may be confused by Lingard move
With Pablo Fornals, Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen starting regularly, Vlasic can’t get a look in.
The 24-year-old Croatian has started just one Premier League game and come off the bench in another four.
Vlasic quite simply hasn’t got going yet, but with wages of over £100k-a-week, he would have surely expected more minutes.
If Vlasic thought it was difficult getting into the West Ham side now, imagine what it would be like if Lingard comes back too?
Such a move may leave Vlasic wondering why he was brought to West Ham in the first place, and you could hardly blame him if he fared being lost in the shuffle – just as he was at Everton.
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