Manchester United’s failure to cash in on Jesse Lingard looks like increasingly terrible business

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Manchester United chose to release Jesse Lingard in the summer in a well overdue parting of ways which should have happened sooner.

Lingard spent time deciding on his next move and made the surprise choice to sign with Nottingham Forest.

It’s not going too well so far. Lingard’s side sit in the relegation zone with one with from nine matches.

Lingard has struggled for form, with no goals and no assists so far, and not even a spark to suggest he is coming close to hitting the heights he has occasionally produced.

The 29-year-old’s England World Cup hopes appear dead in the water, and he might reflect that he should have left Manchester United sooner.

Failure to cash in on Lingard

Since his memorable 2016 FA Cup final winner, and a purple patch of form under Jose Mourinho in 2018, Lingard largely struggled during his last few seasons at Manchester United.

The one highlight was during his loan spell at West Ham in early 2021, which saw him briefly recalled into the England squad.

This was the moment to cash in, and West Ham were interested. Figures as high as £25 million were mentioned, Football London reported.

But between United, Lingard, and then manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a decision to retain the player was made, which turned out to be a poor decision.

Lingard did not get first team chances, and sat restlessly on the bench through much of the campaign. There were opportunities to cash in during January, and United rejected them too, turning down an approach from Newcastle, The Guardian reported.

He did not contribute anything of note in the back half of last season, and United’s caution was ill-judged. Even a small fee would have been better than ‘nothing’.

Lingard’s poor form for Nottingham Forest make it even more frustrating that United did not seize the moment to cash in during the 2021 transfer window.

This is where a lack of strategy came in, in then chief executive Ed Woodward’s final summer at the club. This is something United have to learn from, to be more ruthless and tell players when their time is up.