Stuart Pearce disappointed with Jesse Lingard not joining West Ham permanently in 2021
Stuart Pearce has insisted that Jesse Lingard had the best six months of his career at West Ham and he shouldn’t have returned to Manchester United in the following summer.
The England international completed his loan move to the London Stadium in January 2021, where he was arguably the best player in the Premier League in the second half of the season.
But Lingard returned to United in the following summer and hardly got any minutes under his belt before leaving as a free agent.
Pearce, while talking to talkSport, started that Lingard’s best time came while playing for the Hammers where the player was just “magnificent”.
“I’m not sure whether it’s totally done or not,” said Pearce. “We might have had the best six months out of Jesse Lingard that he’s ever going to have in football, again or beforehand
“He was magnificent for us. He gave us a slightly different dimension, his football was outstanding.
“He’s got a footballing arrogance, Jesse. He’ll take the ball anywhere on the pitch and it was a massive disappointment that Jesse didn’t come and join us permanently in the summer on the back of that.
“He’ll end up going where he wants to go, West Ham got him and his performances got him back in the England fold which he hasn’t been in and he’s very proud of.”
Lingard has shown that he can do well when the spotlight is not on him. During his time at United, it almost felt like he had created such an image for himself that he was under pressure to deliver almost all the time.
On some occasions he did, as we saw in the 2016 FA Cup final, 2016 Community Shield and the 2017 Carabao Cup.
However, there were performances like we saw in the past 12 months when he simply was frustrating to watch.
His performances at West Ham in the second half of the 2020-21 season showed that he can perform very well at a comparatively smaller club.
During his loan period at the London Stadium, the former Norwich City man scored nine goals and provided five assists in just 16 Premier League appearances [Transfermarkt].
Apart from that, he was part of the starting hub of the England National Team that progressed to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and the finals of the 2021 Euros. Considering the way in which Moyes trusted him in the past and Lingard has delivered, the same thing can happen if this move materialises in the future.