Jesse Lingard and West Ham groundhog day looms large with AFCON issue after a new report from The Athletic this weekend.
There are three certainties in the life of a West Ham fan – death, taxes and your club being linked with Jesse Lingard in every transfer window.
We are now just two weeks away from the January transfer window and the Hammers plan to be active.
Fringe players must be sold to free up space in the squad and satisfy FFP rules over wages-to-turnover.
West Ham also have the big issue of AFCON. The tournament will rob David Moyes of Ghana star Mohammed Kudus and Morocco defender Nayef Aguerd for as many as six games between January and February.
Lingard and West Ham groundhog day looms
And it will could also potentially see both Said Benrahma and Maxwel Cornet out of the picture if selected by Algeria and Ivory Coast respectively – something which looks highly unlikely at present.
With all those elements factored in, one thing seems completely inevitable in the coming weeks.
Lingard and West Ham groundhog day looms with the AFCON issue after a new Athletic report.
West Ham fans who thought the Lingard saga was dead once and for all might have to think again.
Even if the club has absolutely no interest in signing Lingard he will almost certainly end up being linked with a return to east London.
FFP and AFCON issues dictating Hammers business
The Athletic has published a big feature on Lingard ahead of the window. No doubt by design. Hammers fans will remember he trained with them for over a month in the summer ahead of what was expected to be a return to the London Stadium on a short-term deal.
But despite playing a behind-closed-doors friendly and going on a West Ham charm offensive on social media, no deal materialised and Lingard jetted off to train with Al Ettifaq in Saudi instead. But that little adventure also came to nothing.
Now, months on, Lingard – who turned 31 yesterday – is still without a club and The Athletic claims he is keeping his options open ahead of the January window.
Shockingly – or perhaps more tragically – Lingard last played competitive football in April, a two-minute substitute appearance for Nottingham Forest against his old club Manchester United.
Athletic put Lingard back on the agenda
For his last 90-minute performance in the Premier League you have to go all the way back to August 2022. And before that? Rewind another 15 months to that exhilarating loan spell with West Ham.
Mark our words, though. Despite all that – West Ham will be linked with him by the football press at some point in the next six weeks.
Even if we – the West Ham fans – know it’s never going to happen with Tim Steidten heading up recruitment… Is it?
You can bet your bottom dollar there will be at least one report soon that “West Ham could reconsider Lingard return on a deal for the rest of the season”.
Whatever happens one thing is for certain, it is a sorry waste of talent and what should be the best years of his career.
West Ham fans know that better than most after watching the midfielder enjoy arguably his best ever six-month spell wearing their claret and blue.
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