West Ham United had a majorly lucky escape by missing out on Jesse Lingard before he ended up moving out to South Korea.
Jesse Lingard joined K-League club FC Seoul in South Korea on a free transfer last month, having flirted with West Ham over pretty much the previous three years.
The 31-year-old spent the second half of the 2020/21 season on loan with the Hammers, and he bagged nine goals and four assists in just 16 Premier League games.
He was a huge hit with West Ham, but he returned to Manchester United, despite David Moyes desperately trying to sign him on a permanent deal.
The Scot tried to bring Jesse back to East London on multiple occasions after that, and was most recently linked with him back in the summer when it seemed for all the world that he would rejoin us on a free transfer.
However, that didn’t happen in the end and boy am I happy that we didn’t offer him a deal…
Jesse Lingard struggles out in South Korea
The former Hammer has just been absolutely slaughtered…by his manager of all people!!
Lingard’s manager Kim Gi-dongspoke to Korea JoongAng Daily after his side’s 2-0 win over Jeju United, and he criticised the 31-year-old heavily:
“He only played a few minutes, and yet he didn’t work hard and avoided tussle. If you run less than a footballer who has played 90 minutes, you’re not even a footballer. Fame doesn’t win football games. If it did, I would have brought in a famous retired player.”
He’s played three games about 105 minutes for his new club so far, and is still yet to register a goal or an assist (Transfermarkt).
I just can’t help but feel that Lingard has really wasted his talent by making some poor choices over the past few years. He should have joined West Ham in the summer of 2021 and I really think he’d be in a much better place now had he done exactly that.
Jesse Lingard is clearly done as a top level footballer – he wouldn’t be playing out in South Korea if he wasn’t.
I’m just delighted that we didn’t buckle and offer him a deal back in the summer.
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