IS JESSE LINGARD’S LOAN MOVE TO WEST HAM UNITED A GOOD IDEA?
Manchester United’s once-blue eyed boy and now-outcast Jesse Lingard has secured a loan move for himself to West Ham United in the January transfer window. He has also had a spectacular start to his career for the Hammers as he netted two goals on his debut against Aston Villa in Gameweek 22 of the Premier League competition. Lingard, who is 28 years old now, has had an unusual time at Old Trafford of late and it is only for his betterment that he has secured the loan move to the London Stadium in the capital city of England.
Of late, the manager of Manchester United Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been unable to give too much of game time to Lingard and that resulted in the Englishman losing his edge. This went so far that he could not be brought on the field by Manchester United in the 2020/21 season at all. What added more insult to injury was the humiliating fact that he was a part of the matchday squad on four occasions only. Clearly, this was showing Solskjaer’s lack of trust in the central attacking midfielder. Lingard could only manage 80 minutes in an FA Cup game against Watford and 9 minutes against Brighton and Hove Albion in the English Football League Cup competition.
It was agreed all across Old Trafford that Lingard was of no more use and had to be disposed somewhere else to further both his and his parent club’s interests. West Ham United, led by their manager David Moyes, came looking for Lingard and Solskjaer was only too happy to get him off his hands. The question, however, on everyone’s lips was how this came to be and how someone who was almost indisposable in the Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho eras could be seen as an outcast under the Norwegian. The rest of this article tries to understand how that came to happen and what went wrong for the 27-year-old Englishman. This article also tries to explain if the move to West Ham United will turn out to be beneficial for Lingard in the long term.
WHEN JESSE LINGARD WAS IN DEMAND AT MANCHESTER UNITED
At the outset, it is fair to comment that even though Jesse Lingard played as the sole central attacking midfielder under the likes of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and even Solskjaer to an extent, he was not a huge contributor of goals and none of the seasons he has played at United have seen him contribute double-digit returns in the Premier League competition. His best came in the 2017/18 season, however, when he netted eight goals and bagged five assists. In the same season, he scored on three occasions in the English Football League Cup competition and on two occasions in the FA Cup competition.
Lingard’s contributions to United were more off the ball and it was his work rate and high pressing skills that endeared him to the Old Trafford faithful. He was seen as someone who could keep possession of the ball and distribute it onwards to his more attack minded colleagues. However, he seemed to lose the ball on occasion and that led him to be labelled as someone who could not be trusted with it in dangerous areas. He did not have a particularly good time in the 2019/20 Premier League season when he scored just one goal and that eventually led to manager Solskjaer asking him to move on to greener pastures.
It is worth remembering, however, that Lingard can be termed as a big-match player. He has scored in the final of the 2015/16 FA Cup competition coming on as a substitute as well as the final 2016/17 FA Community Shield against Leicester City and the final of the 2016/17 English Football League Cup competition against Southampton, all of them at Wembley Stadium. However, it also needs to be remembered that those were perhaps the last occasions on which, unfortunately, Lingard made the headlines. There is a lot of sympathy among the fans of Manchester United about him but manager Solskjaer has cruelly, and perhaps regrettably, not shared in that sentiment.
WHAT WENT WRONG FOR JESSE LINGARD AT MANCHESTER UNITED?
Although most pundits would point their fingers towards Lingard’s performances, or rather the lack of them, in the 2019/20 season (which was also hampered midway by the Covid-19 pandemic) to which led him to a move away from Old Trafford, there were signs of that coming earlier as well. In the 2018/19 season, Lingard turned up for United on 27 occasions in the Premier League but managed to score only 4 goals. He bagged two assists but that was not enough to placate him with the fans who had seen a managerial change midway through the season as the incumbent Jose Mourinho was replaced by former club stalwart Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after a shocking defeat to Liverpool in December.
All in all, Lingard has made 135 appearances for Manchester United, in which he has scored 20 goals and that is simply not acceptable for someone who played in the feeder role for the strikers and other attackers. Lingard was expected to possess a more attacking instinct and an eye for goal whenever the opportunities arose but sadly that has not been the case. He has had numerous loan spells, at Leicester City, Birmingham City, Brighton and Hove Albion, Derby County and now West Ham United, but none of his returns from there have indicated to a significant revival. His best performances on loan came for Birmingham City in 2013/14 when he scored six goals in 13 appearances.
Lingard is a player who likes to hold on to the ball dearly even when the opposition players harrass and heckle him for it but his apparent lack of defensive contributions for whichever side he turns out for has not exactly helped his cause. Lingard is also not especially good at aerial duels or crossing the ball, and these have allowed his competitors to get a hold over him whenever the ball has been challenged. However, he also likes to do long layoffs with the ball, which is a very big positive that he has. He can also fit inside a system which plays with short passing and even though he can be seen as committing fouls often, he likes a bit of speed in his attacking style of football.
WHAT ABOUT JESSE LINGARD’S ENGLAND CAREER?
Some people might not believe it, but Jesse Lingard was at one time a regular starter for England. He made it to the Youth teams of his country, first at the under 17 level and later at the under 21 level as well, but did not taste a lot of success at either representative age group. Perhaps his greatest and most memorable achievement in England colours at junior level was when he came off the bench to score the winner in a European Under 21 Championship competition group match against Sweden in 2015.
Lingard was also a part of the England senior squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and bagged a goal for himself in England’s thrashing of Panama 6–1 in one of the group stage matches. In a tournament where England finished fourth, Lingard made as many as five starts but sadly could not convert it into something substantial. All in all, if one is to go by the record book, then Lingard has scored on just four occasions for England at the senior level, having made a significant 24 appearances.
He does not appear to be a part of manager Gareth Southgate’s plans for the future, as he was dropped in 2019 from the team for the EURO 2020 Qualification matches. One of the reasons why this has happened is that Southgate has not seen him get a lot of game time at Manchester United. Now that Lingard has moved to West Ham United, he might get a look-in by the England manager, who has admitted to being a fan of the Mancunian’s work rate and work ethic.
IS THE MOVE TO WEST HAM UNITED A GOOD MOVE FOR LINGARD IN THE LONG TERM?
There is every reason to suggest that the move to West Ham United has been a very good idea for Jesse Lingard at this stage of his career. In the analyses that we have done so often in Mighty Tips, one of the most widely sought-after betting tips site in the world, it can be seen that he was not a part of matchday squads at Manchester United lately for a host of reasons. He is at the prime of his life and needs to play regular football to stay sharp and compete for a place in the England squad. This move to the London Stadium is the right decision in my opinion and the faith of David Moyes on Lingard might well translate into something historic. Once the loan spell is done, Manchester United might want to see how Lingard’s progress has been and then take a call on his immediate future.