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Irish Hammer 9:09 Mon May 17
Article on Lingard staying with us or not

West Ham’s hopes of keeping Jesse Lingard slipping away like their Champions League dream

Roshane Thomas
West Ham United’s chances of qualifying for the Champions League have faded, and it appears so too have their hopes of signing Jesse Lingard on a permanent deal.

Clubs have already started to form a disorderly queue to secure his signature and there is a feeling at West Ham that should Manchester United decide to sell Lingard this summer they are likely to try to use him as a makeweight in a deal for a player they would like to bring to Old Trafford.

The Athletic reported last month that Manchester United would explore a deal for Declan Rice if West Ham wanted to make Lingard’s loan permanent, but the 22-year-old England midfielder is not the only player who is being considered for such a part-exchange move.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is understood to want to sign another striker this summer and United have a long-standing interest in Harry Kane, who is expected to push to leave Tottenham after this season. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is determined not to let the England captain go and would likely demand more money than United would be prepared to offer but Lingard could be a useful bargaining chip to throw into the deal to reduce any fee.

While that move appears unlikely at present, there are no shortage of suitors for Lingard — thanks largely to his performances since joining West Ham in January.

The past three and a half months have seen the rebirth of the 28-year-old and the idea of him moving permanently elsewhere will come as a huge blow to West Ham manager David Moyes.

Lingard joined West Ham on loan for the rest of the season having been a peripheral figure in 2020-21 for his parent club, playing only three games in the domestic cups.

It is understood the Manchester United manager would prefer to sell the attacking midfielder now his value has increased rather than either reintegrate him or loan him back out next season.

Lingard has endeared himself to West Ham supporters, regained his place in the England squad and won the Premier League’s player of the month and goal of the month awards for April.

But before Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Brighton & Hove Albion, Moyes appeared to concede defeat in terms of Lingard being in claret and blue again next season: “I am not actually sure how realistic it is. Obviously, I think Jesse has enjoyed himself, I hope he has, we have enjoyed having him. He is Manchester United’s player, so they can decide what to do with him. If they want to let him go, let’s hope he would consider us as one of his options.”

Lingard has excelled with nine goals and three assists in 14 Premier League appearances for West Ham.

Following his impressive two-goal debut in February’s 3-1 win at Aston Villa, The Athletic revealed Manchester United were against the idea of including an option to buy in his loan deal. Moyes admitted that the east London club will have a “bit of money” to spend this summer but signing a genuine striker remains the priority, with Chelsea’s out-of-favour Tammy Abraham one target if a loan deal could be agreed.

England manager Gareth Southgate was in attendance at the Amex Stadium on Saturday, with it appearing likely Lingard will be named in the squad for the European Championship starting next month. But before Southgate names his squad on May 25, West Ham supporters will be hoping Lingard continues to have an impact in their club’s quest to secure European football next season.

Despite picking up his award for April, Lingard had only one shot on target in each of the three league games against Newcastle, Chelsea and Burnley then none subsequently against Everton and Brighton. He hasn’t scored since the 3-2 defeat at Newcastle on April 17 and contributed his most recent assist in the 3-2 win over Wolves a fortnight earlier. Moyes felt Lingard played well against Brighton and, in fairness, the attacking midfielder tried to spark the West Ham attack. But it is a slight worry that his form has tailed off slightly over the past few games.

The draw with Brighton has all but ended West Ham’s chances of finishing in the top four, while Spurs’ Sunday win over Wolves pushes them down to seventh place with two games to go. The aim for Moyes’ side is to stay in contention for a Europa League spot by picking up points in their remaining fixtures, away to already-relegated West Brom on Wednesday and at home against 14th-placed Southampton next Sunday.

In the 1-0 loss at home to Everton last Sunday, Said Benrahma, Vladimir Coufal and Jarrod Bowen all missed great opportunities, and it was a similar theme at the Amex.

Tomas Soucek and Pablo Fornals arguably had West Ham’s best chances, but they weren’t clinical in front of goal.

It is no secret that Fornals is the engine of this team and his work rate is his best attribute. But too often he is profligate, as shown in the three great chances he had against Brighton. The Spaniard has registered three league goals in 31 appearances this season when he should be pushing into double figures.

“We played well enough to take more than a point,” said Moyes. “We’ll take it, but we wanted three. We played really well for long periods of the game but we did not do enough in the final third, I thought our decision-making in the final third was poor. With two games to play, we are still in with a chance of European football, which is good. We’d have liked it to have been a bit easier but we are still in there.”

Benrahma belatedly scored his first goal for the club in his 31st appearance to cancel out Danny Welbeck’s 84th-minute opener, which will certainly help his confidence after being left out of the starting XI in favour of Bowen, who gave a subdued performance.

West Ham could certainly do with the Algerian playmaker’s creative spark. They have won once in five league outings, and tiredness seems to be a factor behind their lack of intensity in those games.

If they miss out on European football it won’t be for lack of effort but it seems these players are starting to run out of steam.

(Photo: Neil Hall – Pool/Getty Images)

Barty 9:13 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

If he has any sense he´ll stay

Irish Hammer 9:13 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

The “Fornals is the engine of this team” threw me for a bit. But, tbh he is becoming hugely important to us. Same as Noble was for the past decade really

Benrama could be huge for us going forward. He seems to have found his feet, and has definite quality

Barty 9:15 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

I wouldn´t compare Fornals to Noble-, different type of players but I agree Fornals has been impressive this season and I believe he´ll improve with age too. Spanish players tend to, especially midfielders

Sven Roeder 9:18 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Man U can do what they want but it will be up to Lingard who he joins.
If he doesnt want to join us .... then he isnt the right player.
Why anyone would want to join Spurs as Harry Kane goes out the door (maybe followed by Son) I dont know.
Several managers seem reluctant to join on that basis

Jasnik 10:49 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Funny I played like Fornals on the weekend . All build up play couldn't shoot for toffee.

We just about won 3-2

Iron Duke 11:00 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Lingard has been brilliant for us. The last couple of matches not so much. If he wants to stay then great. If he doesn’t want to stay then I’m fairly relaxed about it. Maybe we’ve had him at his peak.

fraser 11:21 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Have loved watching him for us and would be nice if he stayed.

But not going to be gutted if he doesn't.

ParadiseLost 11:26 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Agree with the comment that we may have seen him at his best. We also seem to have gone very quickly here from almost the certainty he would stay at West Ham to us being an also ran. With the state of finances in football, in particular in Europe there should be lots of value in the market this summwe. If he stays, great, but at 28 not worth paying over the odds.

Hermit Road 11:28 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Soucek and Rice are the engines of the team. Fornals is a worker though but his end product is lacking.

As for Lingard, I have a horrible feeling that anyone who signs him will spend a lot of money for a few flashes of brilliance but 2 and a half years of not much else.

twoleftfeet 11:49 Mon May 17
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Trust me if we get Sima instead of Lingard I’d be very pleased, this kid is the real deal.

Lingard has been amazing but he is easily distracted.

Crassus 12:20 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Said to my lad when he first turned up, and started performing that he has the look of Spurs about him - posted that here too

And it would not be a shock would it

stepney hammer 1:06 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Aren't Spurs playing Alli again in that position? Not sure they need Lingard. Also it was Mourinho that wanted him from when he had him before at Man Utd. Probably depends who they appoint.

Mex Martillo 7:47 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

I think we needed CL for Lingard to stay.
I feel he wants more than we have to offer. May not work out for him though.

Coffee 7:54 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Thanks, Irish.

PwoperNaughtyButNot 8:06 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Whoever buys him will be spending an awful lot of money. If it is us it will be the majority of our budget.

We know we need a striker and a left back. If we sign Lingard and that’s that then our squad is as light next season as this.

I like him. If he was value it would be a great signing. My worry is he would fall into that old adage of nobody leaves man United to improve. Would be be buying his declining years?

Manuel 8:09 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Certainly won't be reading the completely pointless article, but the feeling now must be that he won't stay, and after his last few performances i don't think it will make too many waves when he goes back Norf.

Sydney_Iron 8:35 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

He seem to have reverted to the player we thought we were getting back in January! A ManU bench warmer never able to nail down his place…..What we got though was the Lingard out to prove a point and well fired up, and he did that in spades, but since he got the wankfest reaction from both fans, pundits and the press, he seems to have sat back on his laurels and bathed in the adulation of it all, hence the slip back to normal form.


It was nice while it lasted, but im not sure it will be repeated, happy to be proved wrong, still a decent player but I do hope Moyes and the board are not desperate to sign him and get bent over by ManU and shafted with a very high fee, big wages and a long contract, unless it’s a reasonable price with wages on par with other players at the club, then would rather we looked elsewhere.

But then again, what the fuck do I know, leave it to Moyes AND Moyes alone, let’s hope the owners don’t stick their ore in!

Mace66 9:18 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Crassus 12:20 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not
Said to my lad when he first turned up, and started performing that he has the look of Spurs about him - posted that here too


I think the same and if he was in a Spurs shirt doing some of those celebrations of his I’d want to hurt him

fraser 9:21 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Isn't just being in their shirt enough to want to hurt anyone?

Mace66 9:24 Tue May 18
Re: Article on Lingard staying with us or not

Indeed it is but my point is that he seems a lot of a cunt even without their shirt on

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