West Ham United: Charlie Austin defends Jesse Lingard after ‘disrespect’ accusation
Charlie Austin has defended Jesse Lingard as the attacking midfielder closes in on a move to Nottingham Forest after snubbing West Ham United.
It has been reported by The Mirror in their print edition (21 July, page 59) that Lingard is set to undergo his Forest medical with the East Midlands club.
It has also been suggested by reliable Hammers source West Ham Football Twitter (20 July) that Lingard will sign a deal worth in the region of £200,000-a-week when the signing on fee is included, and talkSPORT’s Alex Crook was strong in his criticism on the same day while suggesting fans felt disrespected.
Despite the time it has taken for Lingard to make up his mind and the money involved, former Premier League striker Austin has defended the former Manchester United man.
Austin told talkSPORT Breakfast on Thursday 21 July: “Let him enjoy summer, he hasn’t made up his mind.
“You’ve just go to let him live and whether he then decides to play for West Ham or Nottingham Forest or whether it be somewhere else he will make up that decision.
“They can do what they like with their money, just leave him to it.”
Gone on for too long
Time for this saga to be put to bed and for Lingard to finally secure the big-money contract that he has been after for a long time.
It is pretty remarkable that Austin is actually defending Lingard for attempting to secure a lucrative deal considering he has done absolutely nothing over the past year to merit even being a Premier League footballer, let alone one of the best-paid players in the league.
David Moyes has spent far too long chasing Lingard and the 29-year-old has done West Ham no favours over the whole summer.
It is good the Hammers didn’t break their wage structure for the attacking midfielder.
Imagine the backlash from the London Stadium faithful had the Hammers made a 29-year-old Lingard the club’s highest-paid player.
It makes sense for the Hammers to just walk away at this point at look into other targets they have been looking at.
It is a bold and potentially foolish move by Forest, with the East Midlands side completely smashing their wage structure to sign Lingard.
Lingard’s had his time at West Ham, let’s all move on.