BBC Sport journalist shares Jesse Lingard transfer update after West Ham United confirmed Premier League squad
Jesse Lingard is still training at West Ham and can still join them despite the club publishing their Premier League squad, according to BBC Sport journalist Simon Stone.
The 30-year-old attacker is currently without a club following his release from Nottingham Forest at the end of last season.
Lingard scored nine goals and registered five assists during a loan spell at West Ham from Manchester United in the 2020/21 season.
“Former England star Jesse Lingard is still training at West Ham following his exit from Nottingham Forest at the end of last season,” Stone wrote for BBC Sport (14 September).
“Last night the Premier League published the 25-man squads for each club. Tellingly, whilst changes to those squads cannot be made, clubs can add to them if they don’t have the full compliment of 25.
“West Ham have 24, so Lingard can still join them. The Hammers are one of nine clubs who have space in their 25-man squad – struggling Luton and Wolves, plus Chelsea and Manchester City, are amongst the others.”
Hammers return?
Lingard undoubtedly has a close connection to the East London club, but the player certainly damaged his reputation there when he did not return following his loan spell.
A total of nine goals and five assists from 16 matches is hugely impressive, and it looked for all the world that he would continue working with David Moyes, having found his feet at the London Stadium.
But it wasn’t meant to be, with the former England international returning to parent club Manchester United before making a switch to Nottingham Forest.
He is now without a club, with speculation about a return to West Ham now gaining more credibility after they left one space in their Premier League squad.
It remains to be seen, however, what the man in the dugout chooses to do with that space, and also how Hammers fans would treat Lingard if he did go back to the club.
In other West Ham news, a journalist has shared a “surprise” Hammers top-four verdict as a “define the narrative” claim is made.