The main point of a loan spell is to give a player a regular chance to play, so it was always going to be interesting to see how Jesse Lingard got on at West Ham.
We’re used to new signings being used in a bit-part role initially with a few cameo appearances for the bench, but it appears that David Moyes is happy to chuck him straight in from the start tonight:
Debut for @JesseLingard ?
Here’s how we line up tonight at Villa Park…#AVLWHU
— West Ham United (@WestHam) February 3, 2021
It’s a big call when you consider that he’s barely played this season so he might struggle to last the full 90 minutes, but there’s also no point in pushing the boat out to sign a player only to leave them on the bench.
He has been out of form for a couple of years now but you can see that he’s really struggling for confidence, so there’s every chance West Ham will get to see the best of him if he has a bright start and manages to build on that.