There has been yet another twist to the sorry Jesse Lingard saga after his West Ham dalliance amounted to nothing as his future is settled.
The long-running saga involving West Ham and Jesse Lingard was finally brought to a close at the end of last month.
The soon to be 31-year-old had been training with West Ham for a month with a view to signing a permanent contract.
Seeing a player who had lit up the London Stadium and propelled the Hammers to within a solitary win of Champions League football just a couple of seasons before effectively coming back on trial having been released by Nottingham Forest was somewhat sad.
Yet another twist to the sorry Jesse Lingard saga after West Ham dalliance amounted to nothing as future is settled
Even so he was widely expected to sign an initial short-term deal with the Hammers. His lawyer even hinted as much during a recent court hearing on drink driving charges, in which Lingard apologised for ‘putting lives at risk’.
But when Lingard posted a picture of himself in first class on a flight to Dubai last month West Ham fans knew the soap opera was finally at an end.
It was then confirmed that the midfielder, who scored nine goals and laid on six assists in 16 games during that memorable West Ham loan spell in 2021, had joined Steven Gerrard’s Saudi side Al-Ettifaq for a month of training with a view to signing there instead.
Now there’s yet another twist to the sorry Lingard saga after West Ham dalliance amounted to nothing as his future is settled.
Another six months of talented Lingard’s career wasted
The good news for Lingard is that he will reportedly be getting handed a contract by the Saudi club.
But the bad news is it won’t be until January – which means he will have completely wasted an entire six months of his career since his release by Forest.
Saudi Pro League rules state that clubs can only have a maximum of eight foreign players in their matchday squad.
And Al-Ettifaq already have 10 foreign players on their books and must offload some before registering new non-Saudi players such as Lingard.
These could and should have been the best years of midfielder’s career after he was reignited by West Ham spell
The Mirror claims Lingard joining on a permanent contract is a expected to be a ‘formality’ after he scored in a friendly for the club.
But having barely played at Forest last season and at Man United the season before that after he opted to remain at Old Trafford instead of joining West Ham, some of what should have been Lingard’s best years have been squandered.
Sadly he will never get that time back and must now wait another three months to be involved in any competitive action whatsoever.
A sorry state of affairs for such a talented player who could have achieved so much had he joined West Ham, where he could have been part of a side which lifted a European trophy.
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