Gary Neville has advised Jesse Lingard to head back to West Ham.
The 28 year old winger went on loan to the London club for the second half of last season and helped them to a sixth place finish in the Premier League, securing them a spot in Europe.
He returned to his parent club and had a busy pre-season, featuring heavily in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s depleted squad for the series of friendlies.
Lingard is currently isolating having tested positive for Covid 19 and so was not able to start in the Reds’ opening game of the season, in which they thrashed Leeds 5-1 in front of a packed Old Trafford. But it was difficult to see where Lingard could fit in.
Neville said (via the Mirror) “Jesse needs to leave for Jesse. He got pride last year playing at West Ham”.
He added, “He’s the man there and he’ll come back here and play 15 games, and be a good squad player, but he doesn’t want that again surely after what he experienced last season. Jesse needs to leave for Jesse Lingard.”
Meanwhile, West Ham started their season off on the right foot too as they beat Newcastle 4-2 in what was an end to end thriller.
New signings Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane were present for the Red Devils win, with Varane receiving a warm reception as he stepped into the centre circle holding his shirt as United officially announced their new signing ten minutes before kick off.
Sancho came on for Daniel James in the 76th minute. The Welshman is also tipped for a move away.
Rumours of outgoings continue to grow for United as wondered Amad Diallo is also poised for a loan spell whilst Solskjaer looks to the fans to help him keep ahold of Paul Pogba, who assisted four of the five goals against Leeds. Whether Lingard will be among them is still a matter of conjecture.
In an interview with the Daily Mail Lingard gushed over his time at West Ham saying “It worked out perfectly, I couldn’t have asked for a better loan. I’ll always support West Ham.”
The transfer window will close at 11pm on August 31st.