Former West Ham United and Manchester United player Jesse Lingard facing uncertain future after development today
Jesse Lingard may well be regretting his decision to not stick around at West Ham as a proposed move to Al-Ettifaq has now reportedly completely collapsed.
The former Manchester United player spent time training with the Irons in the summer, with suggestions he may be offered a short-term contract [Daily Mail, 4 September]
David Moyes repeatedly stated he would wait to see how Lingard’s fitness built up prior to making a call on whether the attacker would stay on at the London Stadium.
It came as a surprise, then, when the 30-year-old decided last month that he instead preferred the prospect of joining a team in Saudi Arabia.
This was despite West Ham spending thousands of pounds covering the player’s living and travel expenses while he was effectively on trial [Daily Mail, 28 September].
However, having spent the past month training with Steven Gerrard’s side in the hope of landing a contract, it has now emerged Al-Ettifaq will not be pushing ahead with the transfer.
Journalist Ben Jacobs posted on his personal Twitter account on Saturday [28 October]: “Jesse Lingard’s one month training with Al-Ettifaq is over. Saudi club won’t sign him.
“They can’t now due to quotas and won’t in January. Lingard’s wages not within Ettifaq’s budget. Even if they could proceed they’d need to first release two foreign players.
“Sources close to Ettifaq stress they enjoyed having Lingard, and he scored in a friendly. But they term signing him “near impossible” due to finances and the fact there’s no guarantee two foreign players will definitely exit in January. Club have other targets when window opens.”
Not to pile on top of Lingard while he is on the ground, but it says an awful lot about his plight that Al-Ettifaq – a team that sits seventh in the Saudi Pro League – believe there are better targets out there.
Whether it is down to fitness concerns or if it is purely about quality – perhaps even a bit of both – Lingard’s career is looking as though it may be over a little over a month out from his 31st birthday.
After all, a hugely impressive half-season loan spell with West Ham in 2021-22 aside, the former England international has done very little over the past four years or so.
After struggling in the Premier League with Nottingham Forest last season, the lifeline he looked set to be offered by Moyes seemed extremely generous at the time, and even more so now.
Having decline to take it, and with Al-Ettifaq no longer interested, it remains to be seen exactly where is next for Lingard. One thing for certain is that it will not be West Ham.
In other West Ham news, Stan Collymore has predicted the result of “iffy” United’s home match with Everton.