West Ham United have one club in way of Jesse Lingard signing
West Ham United have just one other club currently in their way of signing Manchester United attacker Jesse Lingard, according to Dean Jones.
The Irons made a formal approach to sign the England international on a free transfer once his contract at Old Trafford expires on Thursday (30 June) [Evening Standard] and are waiting for his response.
He is, however, weighing up offers from other clubs at the same time but Jones now believes there is only one club in between Lingard and a move back to the London Stadium.
“Talks are still ongoing and there’s still hope, but this is what we expected really,” Jones said to Give me Sport.
“People kept trying to knock back the West Ham rumours, but they’ve always liked him, they’ve always been like ‘we’re here, we want to talk to you’ and he knows that he fits in, he knows the whole environment, he’s obviously got a good thing going.
“But there’s one other club that could knock West Ham down and I’m trying to figure out who that is.”
Almost ours
Whoever this mystery club is might as well give up their pursuit now because Lingard is very fond of the London Stadium and West Ham after his fantastic loan spell in the 2020-21 campaign.
He turned up in the capital having been drained of life by Manchester United and the arrival of Bruno Fernandes, desperately searching to find that spark to find his best form again.
And boy did he find it.
that six months saw some of the best individual displays of the last decade by a West Ham player and it massively helped us reach the Europa League courtesy of a fifth-placed finish in the Premier League.
That form, which earned him a recall to Gareth Southgate’s England side prior to the Euros, will be right in the forefront of his mind as he makes his decision which will hopefully put us in pole position.
If he can play anywhere near to that level again should he return to the London Stadium then we could be aiming even higher than fifth this time around.