West Ham United and Newcastle United had tried really hard to sign Jesse Lingard during the January window but Manchester United refused to let him leave.
The 29-year-old has hardly played for Man United this season so, with two Premier League sides interested in signing him on loan, it was only a matter of time before he moved out of Old Trafford.
But, in the end, both West Ham and Newcastle had to return empty-handed and as per Ralf Rangnick, the arrest of Greenwood is the principal reason why Jesse Lingard was held back.
“Three weeks ago Jesse didn’t want to leave and then he changed his mind,” said Rangnick, as per the BBC.
“I said at the time, if he finds a club and a solution that suits us, we would allow him to leave. With the developments in the last couple of days, things changed.
“On Monday afternoon, the board said they wanted him to stay. We are without a player who has played regularly and also we couldn’t get an agreement for any other club.”
⚒️ x 🕺 x ⚽@WestHam signed Jesse Lingard on loan from Man Utd #OnThisDay in 2021, he scored nine goals in 16 #PL matches 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bWdHwYGx9b
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 29, 2022
Was Rangnick right in holding onto Jesse Lingard?
Mason Greenwood was supposed to be the right-winger for the second half of the season but his arrest has really disarrayed things for the manager.
Amad has joined Rangers on loan and even Anthony Martial moved out in January meaning United are really thin in that area of the pitch. In such a scenario, it makes perfect sense that Rangnick decided to hold onto Jesse Lingard. Apart from Jadon Sancho and Lingard, there’s no recognised player who can play on the right wing.
Lingard was desperate to get game time and now that Greenwood is out, there’s a chance he will get some game time during the second half of the season.
Man United are playing in the Champions League so the manager is surely going to rotate his squad meaning Lingard should be playing some crucial minutes down that right flank. So far, he’s played 97 minutes in the Premier League.
As far as West Ham United and Newcastle United are concerned they have missed out on a very good player but at least David Moyes will now be hoping his side will be able to sign the England international as a free agent once the 21/22 season comes to an end.
