Manchester United star Jesse Lingard was left out of the upcoming England squad, it was announced this week.
Along with Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood, Lingard was not included and he cannot be too surprised.
Lingard has long been on the squad’s periphery, having failed to make the final cut for Euro 2020.
His lack of game time at United has seen him fall back to square one, omitted from the squad for next week’s games.
Lingard was in the England squads for the games in September and October.
Famous last words…
Lingard was asked last month about his lack of regular game time at Manchester United and responded to say he did not believe it would be an issue.
Lingard was quoted by ESPN: “I think I’m not doing any harm at the moment.
“If I keep performing well and doing well you never know what might happen.”
Lingard only started one game before the October qualifiers and that was the Carabao Cup defeat to West Ham.
Since then Lingard has played a total of 18 minutes, 10 against Leicester and eight against Tottenham.
The reasoning for leaving him out of the squad is understandable. You need to play to get in.
Back to square one
This situation is incredibly disappointing for Lingard, who fought so hard to get back into the squad initially.
Lingard was outstanding on loan at West Ham in the second half of last season, scoring nine goals in 16 Premier League games and also contributing four assists.
He had to make that loan move because of being constantly overlooked by Solskjaer. The only starts he got were in domestic cups, and nothing has changed this season either, despite scoring a couple of goals from the bench in the league.
Lingard will now have to reevaluate his future. His contract expires next summer.
In the interview with ESPN last month he spoke of his desire to make the World Cup 2022 squad, adding: “The World Cup is a long way away but obviously from last year, you need regular football. You know if you’re playing over 20, 25 games, of course you know you’re knocking on the door.”
Unless Lingard’s club role changes substantially between now and January, and he should get more chances, he would be sensible to push for an exit mid-season and there will be plenty of interest.
It’s on Solskjaer
This is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s fault. The manager has mismanaged his squad terribly this season. To not give Lingard a start in the league all season is so poor.
Donny van de Beek has lost his place in the Netherlands international team, Alex Telles is out of the Brazil squad, and now both Sa ncho and Lingard are out of the England squad. Anthony Martial has also been left out of the latest France squad.
Solskjaer has been too reliant on a core group of players and has not spread the game time around enough.
If it were just Lingard, then you could point to it being unfortunate. But when there are so many talented internationals playing so infrequently to the point they get axed from their national squads, then it is more than a coincidence.
United don’t want to grow a reputation as a club where players’ international dreams go to die. They should be flourishing instead, and the manager must find a better way to utilise the large squad he has at his disposal.
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