Premier League English

Manchester United’s shock Jesse Lingard U-turn 

It now looks like Jesse Lingard may not be leaving Manchester United after all this summer with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suddenly very taken up with the midfielder’s impressive form on loan to West Ham and is now raring to bring him back into the first-team.

The 28-year-old had been given little game time at Old Trafford and was forced to leave the club on loan in January, joining West Ham until the end of the season. However in a sudden turnaround, despite his lack of minutes in recent seasons, Lingard hit the ground running and dazzling with five goals and two assists in his first seven Premier League appearances for the Irons.

His stellar form even earned him a recall to the England national team for which he was named Man of the Match for his performance against San Marino on Thursday.

It had been widely expected that Lingard would make a permanent move to east London for a fee of around £15million, but it looks now that Solskjaer is having a major rethink, having been blown away by Lingard’s incredible return to form and is eager to bring him back from the cold and be a valuable part of the squad, according to The Sun.

The Norwegian coach has always been a big fan of the midfielder despite freezing Lingard out and is delighted to see him vibrant with confidence once again.

Lingard could now even be offered a new contract which would allow Solskjaer to bring Lingard back into his first-team plans besides preserving his transfer value, while it would even allow them to loan him out again further down the line if he again found himself on the periphery at Old Trafford. The player’s current £100,000-a-week deal is due to expire in 2022 when he would be able to leave the club on a free transfer.

West Ham are understandably desperate not to let Lingard go and were hoping to land him permanently for about £15m, although that figure would easily be in excess of £20m is United would ever let him go – which seems most unlikely now.

Besides having added value for United as a home grown player, Juan Mata’s potential departure – with only a few months left on the Spaniard’s contract – would leave United with room for a creative player like the resurgent Lingard.