West Ham United: Nottingham Forest join race for Jesse Lingard
Jesse Lingard has been subject to interest from newly-promoted Premier League side Nottingham Forest with West Ham still in discussions with the former Manchester United man according to The Guardian.
It had been reported by Sky Sports journalist Dharmesh Sheth on his personal Twitter account (19 July) that the Hammers were growing confident of bringing the 29-year-old back to the London Stadium.
However, The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg revealed on Tuesday 19 July that Steve Cooper’s side have registered late interest in the attacker.
It has been suggested that there are complications over the attacking midfielder’s £180,000-a-week wage demands.
Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle and Leicester are all said to be monitoring the situation.
Unlikely
Forest’s late approach for Lingard is potentially an unrealistic move.
The newly promoted side surely won’t be able to meet the attacker’s fairly outrageous wage demands at present.
£180,000 a week is a huge amount for the Hammers to pay for the 29-year-old and there has to be a rethink if the club are contemplating paying the England international that much.
Lingard has spent the last year sitting on the Manchester United bench and making Tik Toks.
If he honestly believes that he is deserving of a huge wage offer then he needs to reconsider his demands.
He certainly did enjoy an excellent loan spell with the Irons, but six months of good work doesn’t mean he’s deserving of being one of, if not the highest paid player at the club.
If the Hammers bowed down to his request it would send an awful message to the rest of the squad.
If he doesn’t change his wage demands, West Ham should certainly walk away from this one.
Moyes should instead focus on securing a deal for Chelsea striker Armando Broja or Sassuolo’s Gianluca Scamacca.