Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick has basically told Jesse Lingard he’d be better off leaving Old Trafford for a permanent transfer to West Ham.
The England international’s loan move to West Ham this January has been one of the surprise success stories of this season, following his struggles to even make the matchday squad for some time at Old Trafford.
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Lingard has now scored six goals and contributed three assists for West Ham, meaning an involvement in a total of nine goals in just eight Premier League games since joining the club.
One could easily imagine Man Utd are now thinking again about Lingard, who could surely be a valuable asset to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side if he returns to the club and continues to play like this.
Chadwick is a big fan of Lingard, but he feels it’s probably best from the player’s point of view if he now moves on and makes his move to West Ham a permanent one if possible.
Bruno Fernandes is surely going to remain ahead of Lingard in the pecking order at United, in what Chadwick feels is his best position, meaning he’d most likely only ever be a squad player, which is not what he needs at this stage of his career.
“It’s an interesting one, there aren’t many if any players playing better than him right now in the Premier League. I think Ole likes him a lot but struggled to get him into the team at Man United,” Chadwick told CaughtOffside.
“I think for Lingard’s career moving forward it looks like he’s just found the perfect home for him at West Ham; the team’s built around him to a certain extent and he’s obviously a confidence player, the top player in that team. You can see how much confidence he’s playing with.
“There’ll be no shortage of suitors but the way he’s going, West Ham could be the destination for him. He’s a wonderful player who’d be a great squad player at United, but the way the team plays with Fernandes in the 10 – and I think Jesse’s better in central positions – I don’t think he’s going to be a regular there, which he needs at this time in his career.
“The way he’s done at West Ham it would be a great move for him to stay there and carry on the great form he’s shown this season, and he could even be playing in Europe next season.”