Speaking on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand has claimed that Arsenal fans will be absolutely furious if they sign Jesse Lingard.
Recent reports have linked the Gunners with a summer move for Lingard, and while the midfielder has been excellent since joining West Ham, Ferdinand believes that Arsenal supporters would never accept him.
Indeed, the defender claims that Lingard’s dancing antics at the Emirates a few years ago has led to the Gunners fanbase holding a grudge against the England international.
“Yeah but you know what they [Arsenal fans] wouldn’t have him there,” Ferdinand said.
“The way he moonwalked off that pitch once, they wouldn’t have it. The fans would rip the place apart. He disrespected the Emirates in a way that has never been seen.”
“Listen West Ham will have a fight to get him by the way because I think other teams are going to be like: ‘Listen, we want him.’”
“He’s not going to go to Arsenal over West Ham, obviously but there will be other teams. He ain’t going nowhere near Arsenal.”
Lingard has rubbed Arsenal fans up the wrong way in the past, but we’re sure that would quickly be forgotten if he started scoring goals for the Gunners.
We’ve seen plenty of times that fanbases are willing to accept players who’ve previously been in their bad books, and Lingard could be another classic example of this.
Whether or not this deal comes to fruition remains to be seen, but it will be interesting to see how supporters react if Lingard becomes an Arsenal player.
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