David Moyes has revealed that West Ham United didn’t sign Jesse Lingard last summer as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made it clear he wanted to keep him at Manchester United. After going the first half of last season without playing a single minute in the Premier League for United,Lingard joined West Ham on loan in January for the rest of the season. The 28-year-old enjoyed great success at the London Stadium, rejuvenating his career with nine goals and five assists in 16 matches and fighting his way back into Gareth Southgate’s England set-up as a result. With only a year remaining on his contract at Old Trafford, it seemed likely that Lingard may return to West Ham in the summer transfer window but he has remained in Manchester. Irons boss Moyes went on the record with his desire to sign Lingard on a permanent basis, but has now explained it became apparent early in the window that it wasn’t a possibility.
David Moyes said: “No nothing like that at all. Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] made it clear to me quite early in the transfer window that he wanted to keep him. So I knew pretty early in the transfer window that he was staying at Manchester United. I had a private conversation with Ole who made it clear that he was staying.”
Since that conversation, however, United further improved their attack by bringing icon Cristiano Ronaldo back to the club. Coupled with the £72million signing of Jadon Sancho, Lingard has a lot of competition to get into the side and is yet to start a match this season, despite some promising cameos off the bench. Moyes was asked if he believed the signing of Ronaldo could change Solskjaer’s stance on Lingard.
David Moyes said: “I can’t talk about players from other clubs because that’s not really the way we do it. But because Jesse was part of our club for a wee while all I can say is that he made a massive contribution to the team, both on the pitch and off the pitch. We really enjoyed having him. I hope in many ways Jesse will look at the time and how well the players treated him and made him welcome that Jesse would look at that as well, so it may change. He was great for us, but simply the manager told me that he was keeping them in, and when that happens I believe the manager and that’s the way it went.”
