Man Utd loanee Lingard’s West Ham future remains uncertain

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 3 min read

Jesse Lingard’s future remains a hot talking point, with the Manchester United attacker in excellent form on loan at West Ham.

Expectations were not necessarily high of the England player when he moved to the London Stadium in January as he had barely featured this term at Old Trafford.

READ MORE: Three reasons why Jesse Lingard won’t be playing for Man Utd next season

Lingard, however, has been one of the players of the season in the Premier League since moving to West Ham on loan, scoring six goals and laying on four more in just eight games.

That return already represents the second best of his career over an entire season and has led to speculation that he could remain at West Ham on a permanent basis.

Lingard at West Ham

Hammers boss David Moyes, however, has played down the prospect.

“I don’t know, we have not spoken about it. We are enjoying having him, he has been great around the place, we really enjoy having him and I think he is enjoying his time as well but we have not considered anything more at this present time,” he told the media ahead of a clash against Leicester on Sunday.

Moyes on Declan Rice’s injury

Meanwhile, he was equally coy when offering an injury update on midfielder Declan Rice, who continues to attract attention from the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea. Indeed, The Athletic believes he could be used as a makeweight in a deal for Lingard.

“I won’t give you any more information to be honest! I’ll just say that he has an injury as everybody is aware and we will try and get him back as quickly as we can. But we don’t want to put any timescale on it. Obviously, he is an important player but we move on and we have other players who can come in and help us,” he said.

West Ham are presently challenging for a Champions League spot, and should that be claimed it will enhance their prospects of keeping both Lingard and Rice.