Apparent Jesse Lingard decision means very exciting January window ahead for West Ham

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It appears as though Jesse Lingard will not be signing for West Ham United on a free transfer anytime soon.

Jesse Lingard has been training with West Ham over the past month or so, and reports have been claiming that he could be offered a short-term highly incentivised contract by Hammers boss David Moyes (the Daily Mail).

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However, it now seems like Jesse could be heading out to the Middle East instead. He was pictured on a flight out to Dubai last night.

And Fabrizio Romano has claimed that the 30-year-old has now joined Saudi side Al Ettifaq to train with them for a month.

There may be some West Ham fans out there who are disappointed with that news. However, I think it could be a real blessing in disguise for us in the long-term…

Jesse Lingard decision could actually be great news for West Ham

Firstly, had Moyes brought Jesse back to the London Stadium, it would have closed off the path to first-team football for one of our exciting young talents like Divin Mubama, Callum Marshall and Gideon Kodua.

Secondly, the fact that he probably won’t be re-signing for us now means that Moyes may have to dip into the market in the January transfer window.

That’s because we could lose all of the players who are comfortable playing in the left wing position for up to six games in January due to the Africa Cup of Nations – Said Benrahma, Mohammed Kudus and Maxwel Cornet.

At such a busy time of the season, it will be incredibly hard for West Ham to maintain any kind of decent form without Benrahma, Kudus and Cornet.

Lingard would have been a decent stop-gap signing to cover the absence of those three attacking players.

However, with him seemingly now set for Saudi, Moyes will have to either promote one of the exciting under-21 stars or make a new addition to his squad.

Either of those options should be more exciting than West Ham re-signing Jesse Lingard as far as I’m concerned.

I have to say, there was absolutely no guarantee that the 30-year-old would have been able to replicate the form that he showed during his loan spell with us in the 2020/21 season.

He was absolutely woeful for Nottingham Forest last season and he hasn’t got the hunger or motivation that he had three years ago.

It’s clear to see that he’s just on the look-out for one final big payday. That’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that, and I wish him all the best. I’m just happy that we seemingly won’t be signing Lingard now.

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