Lingard's Omission To Aid Irons?

Jesse lingard's omission from Gareth Southgate's England squad assembled to play the delayed Euro's starting on the 13th of June, will have a knock on effect in many ways, not all of which are bad for West Ham. Lingard's stock and value sky rocketed following his loan deal to West Ham from Manchester united, such was his stunning form that he was included in Southgate's England squad for the first time since the 2018 World Cup.

However, for reasons known only to himself, the England manager has chosen to 'cut' Jesse Lingard from his provisional squad, electing to choose his midfield from Mason Mount (Chelsea), Declan Rice, Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund) and Kalvin Phillips from Leeds.

Now the above named players, including Hammers' Declan Rice, are a formidable array of talent, so Jese Lingard's omission kind of makes sense, however the 28 year old will be mightily disappointed not to have made the final cut, but it is the mark of the man that he has chosen to stay on and play the pre-tournament friendlies despite knowing he will not participate in the 'proper' games.

'Southgate's Snub Could Scupper Man Utd's Plans"

For West Ham the situation is a jewel edged sword, the club were proud of giving Lingard the platform for his International recall, but that meant signing him on a permanent basis had started to look less and less likely. Now though, Southgate's snub has altered the potential transfer's trajectory, Manchester United were hoping to start a bidding war for their player who will shortly be entering the last year of his contract, this situation occurred because United exercised their option to extend Lingard's contract by a further year in order to protect their investment, they cannot extend any further.

What this all means is that signing Lingard permanently is now realistically possible, of course other clubs will be interested, but the end price will be an awful lot lower that if the player had been to the Euro's and played a blinder. As it is, Jesse gets to have a brief moment in the spotlight, ahead of a well deserved break, although his season didn't start in earnest until January.

David Moyes is keen to bring his 'surrogate son' back to the London Stadium, the squad already call Jesse Moyes's teacher's pet, and so long as the fee can be kept at a reasonable level, the odds for Lingard returning as a 'proper' Hammer will increase exponentially.

If however United play hard ball, Moyes is unlikely to go down the route they want, and will reluctantly turn his attention to other more easily attainable players instead, being held to ransom is NOT part of Moyes's new recruitment plan. Classic examples of managers paying over the odds for players litter the Barclays Premier League, Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham for example, and more recently Carlo Ancelotti at Everton who has left the Toffees with an unbalanced and bloated squad as a result of him paying 'top dollar' for his acquisitions.

Hammers need Jesse Lingard probably in equal measure as he needs the club, of course agents and intermediaries will have their final say, but at least the option to bring Lingard to the London Stadium is once more a goer. - Ed