West Ham United manager David Moyes has hinted at the possibility of his side signing out of favour Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard.
Earlier today, Sky Sports reported that contract talks between Lingard’s representatives and Manchester United had collapsed after United tried to force Lingard to take a pay cut in order to sign a new deal.
With this news, speculation has resurfaced that West Ham could make a move for the 28-year-old as early as January, with Man United not likely to be keen on losing a player of Lingard’s quality for free in the coming summer.
In his pre-match press conference, Moyes refused to speak directly about links between the Man United academy graduate and West Ham, but did confirm that he enjoyed working with him while he was on loan at West Ham last season.
You can see the full video below.
? "We really enjoyed having Jesse [Lingard]."
David Moyes doesn't want to be drawn in to questions about Jesse Lingard with the player seeking a move away from Manchester United pic.twitter.com/gxIQLxxLI8
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) November 19, 2021
Pictures courtesy of Sky Sports
With European football to contend with this season, and higher quality opponents after January, Moyes will want to ensure that his squad has the quality depth in place should he need to rotate his team due to injuries or poor form from his starters.
Lingard would certainly make a fine addition to West Ham’s squad, and would push himself to his limit in order to force his way into Gareth Southgate’s England plans ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.