Gabby Agbonlahor: West Ham United the obvious choice for Jesse Lingard after Nottingham Forest offer
Gabby Agbonlahor believes West Ham is the move that Jesse Lingard would prefer as Nottingham Forest grow in confidence over landing the 29-year-old free agent.
Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg revealed via Twitter (20 July) that Forest are growing in optimism about landing the former Manchester United man.
However, West Ham are still in the race for the midfielder and Agbonlahor believes a move to the London Stadium is what Lingard would prefer.
Talking on talkSPORT on Wednesday 20 July, he said: “If he has to choose out of West Ham and Nottingham Forest if they’re offering the same wages, he will pick West Ham.
“He knows the club, he knows the players and the manager.
“Maybe Forest are offering a better package, long contract and more wages and he’s thinking of going down that route.”
All about the money
The Lingard transfer saga shows the sad state that modern football finds itself in at present.
The 29-year-old is a millionaire and has enough money to ensure a secure future for his family, why on earth is he so insistent on securing an extra £20,000-a-week.
David Moyes needs players that want to play for West Ham and Lingard clearly has other priorities that are higher on his agenda than being a successful Premier League footballer.
If the 29-year-old was made the club’s highest-paid player, it would send a truly awful message to the rest of the Moyes squad.
Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen have done far more over the past two seasons than Lingard has done over the past ten years.
If the Hammers made Lingard their highest earner, they would need to offer Bowen and Rice new terms in order to keep their star men happy.
It appears that the Hammers are not willing to break their wage structure for the England international which is good to hear.
Time for Moyes to turn his attention elsewhere and let Lingard secure his huge contract elsewhere.