West Ham are missing a trick if they don’t announce the Jesse Lingard signing in a clever way around the Premier League squad deadline.
Having warmed to the idea of signing Jesse Lingard on a free transfer after some initial trepidation, many West Ham fans have been concerned he might end up elsewhere.
After training with West Ham for three weeks, that would be a real kick in the teeth. Especially after Lingard snubbed the Hammers for Forest when he looked nailed on to return to the London Stadium last summer.
With the Premier League squad deadline at 2pm today (Wednesday September 13th), an announcement on Lingard’s future was expected imminently.
But a West Ham board source confirmed yesterday that West Ham should be able to sign Lingard and add him to their Premier League squad beyond Wednesday afternoon’s deadline – if they leave a space in their 25-man squad.
Hammers can sign Lingard after Prem squad deadline if they leave a space – but they’ll miss great announcement opportunity
David Moyes spoke yesterday to confirm Lingard continues to train with West Ham and was full of praise for the 30-year-old.
It all points to Lingard signing a short-term deal with West Ham at some stage soon rather than going elsewhere.
But West Ham are missing a trick if they don’t announce the Lingard signing in clever way around the Premier League squad deadline.
We live in an era where transfer announcement videos are a big deal. There have been some excellent efforts from various clubs over the summer and many of West Ham’s have been of impressively high production value.
The Hammers have a potentially brilliant announcement video right under their noses given the scenario they find themselves in with Lingard.
West Ham are missing a trick if they don’t announce Jesse Lingard signing in clever way around Premier League squad deadline
What better way to announce his return to the London Stadium than have the camera trained on someone in a darkened room with West Ham insignia in the background, typing out Moyes’s final squad list in an email to the Premier League with the focus on the hands, keyboard and computer screen.
The camera can flip to a clock ticking down to 2pm in the background and switch between that and increasingly frantic typing.
Then to make the big reveal, the last name typed out on the email is JESSE LINGARD. And the camera pans out to show Lingard at at the computer as he hits send and gives his trademark JLingz pose.
Come on West Ham, it would be a blinding way to unveil Lingard. You know it makes sense.
It’s sitting on a plate for the club’s media team but it all hinges on if and when Moyes and Lingard want to make it official.