Former Man Utd star Lingard SLAMMED by Seoul manager

Stuart Telford

• 31 Mar 2024 12:58 BST
• 3 min read

Jesse Lingard has been trying to revive his career in South Korea, but FC Seoul's manager Kim Ki-dong would clearly be glad to see the back of the former Manchester United man.

Lingard's career has started to spiral after leaving Old Trafford in 2022.

A prolific spell on loan at West Ham the previous year augured well, but he failed to find the target in 17 Premier League games after joining Nottingham Forest, and his subsequent move to FC Seoul was his second free transfer in 18 months.

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Lingard's Seoul career is now three games in, but each appearance has been from the bench thus far, and Kim is unimpressed at the former England international's fitness.

"I've been thinking a lot about removing Jesse," he told Southy Korean newspaper IS Plus. "I don't think a player who doesn't run for a few minutes is a football player.

Kim 'should just take retired players'

"If he doesn't fight, and doesn't run better than the player who runs for 90 minutes? If you're going to play football based on names only, shouldn't you just take the retired players?"

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It is a damning indictment for Lingard, who was and Man Utd and England regular a few short seasons ago.

He is the highest-paid player in the K-League on €20,000 a week, which is still some way down from the €235,000 he brought home in his Man Utd prime, when he had a highest ETV of €31.8m.

Lingard is now valued at just €3.7m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, but whether any of his other recent suitors - Al-Ettifaq, Everton and CSKA Moscow - would pay that now is another matter entirely.

His current deal runs until December 2025 with an option for a further year. Seoul look decidedly unlikely to exercise that if Kim stays in charge and Lingard keeps underperforming.