West Ham are making their point to Nottingham Forest’s Jesse Lingard after a sensational transfer was agreed for Lucas Paqueta.
Last month we here at Hammers News asked had the real reason Lingard chose Nottingham Forest over West Ham become crystal clear?
West Ham’s year-long pursuit of Lingard came to an end when the Moyes favourite announced he was signing for newly-promoted Forest.
A host of sources had claimed Lingard looked set to join his preferred option West Ham where he enjoyed that sensational loan spell.
But then Nottingham Forest came into the equation late on and Lingard ended up going to the City Ground instead.
The midfielder was widely criticised and accused of chasing the money by joining Forest after reports abound that he was offered £200k per week by the club of Brian Clough.
That criticism turned out to be inaccurate and unfair, though, when the reports were blown out of the water by respected journalists at both The Telegraph and The Athletic who said he is actually on a base salary of £80k rising to £121k pw at Forest – less than he had been offered by the Hammers.
As stated previously, we believe Lingard was well aware that West Ham were going to be bringing in a host of top quality signings this summer.
And as a result he knew he was A) not going to be the main man as he was during his loan spell, a role he relished and B) was not a guaranteed starter as he would be at Forest.
The actions of the Hammers since, particularly in the last 24 hours, suggest we called it spot on.
That’s as West Ham make their point to Nottingham Forest’s Lingard after a sensational transfer was agreed for Brazil star Paqueta.
Lingard was great for West Ham during that loan spell. And there’s no doubt he is a fine capture for Forest on a “free” transfer.
But was there ever a bigger upgrade than going from a Lingard who turns 30 in a few months to a bona fide world class Brazil star?
Not only that but Paqueta, who turns 25 on Saturday, is more than five years younger than Lingard and literally has the world at his feet.
The imminent West Ham record signing – pending a successful medical on Saturday of course – can play in a host of midfield and attacking positions and has been THE star player for Brazil during their World Cup qualification campaign.
That’s Brazil, the world’s number one ranked team. He was also named the Ligue 1 player of the year – a league containing talents such as Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi.
When Lingard turned West Ham down, Moyes said ‘hold my beer’.
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