West Ham captain Mark Noble was “surprised” how good Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard was before training with him for the first time.
Alongside Newcastle, the Hammers were hoping to re-sign the England international on deadline day, but their approaches were blocked by the Red Devils hierarchy, despite Ralf Rangnick giving him his blessing to leave the club.
With six months left on his Manchester United contract, the 29-year-old will finish the season at Old Trafford before leaving the club on a free transfer.
On the latest Vibe with FIVE podcast, which was aired before the January transfer window closed, Noble was asked by Rio Ferdinand whether he thought the Hammers would have signed Lingard on a permanent deal in the summer.
Noble said: “He surprised me to be honest with what a great lad he was. Not only that but a top, top footballer, you see in the first training session how technically good he was.
“I didn’t think he was going to be that good to be honest with the goals he scored and what he created for the team.
“But it’s a tough situation when you’ve got six months left at a club like Manchester United, he’s been there all his life.
“They’ve let Martial and van de Beek go and all the stuff that has gone on with Mason Greenwood in the press lately, so whether he will come to us – we’ve still got a few hours left – you never know, but hopefully we can get a deal done for Jesse.”
After joining David Moyes’ side on loan during the winter window last year, an inspired and rejuvenated Lingard scored nine goals and made five assists from 16 Premier League games.
But after being given assurances by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that he would feature regularly this season, United didn’t sanction a summer exit.
However, the World Cup hopeful has not started a Premier League game all season and has only started the Carabao Cup loss to the Irons and a Champions League dead rubber against Young Boys.
But with Martial, Amad Diallo and Donny van de Beek departing the club on loan and Greenwood not being considered for selection, Lingard could feature more under Rangnick during the second half of the season.
Noble reacts to David de Gea saving penalty
After seeing his former teammate Lingard come off the bench to score what looked like a late winner at the London Stadium in September, Noble had a great chance to steal the headlines five minutes later.
Following a VAR check, the Hammers were given a 94th minute penalty after Luke Shaw was adjudged to have a handballed a cross.
Sat on the bench, Moyes decided to bring on penalty specialist Noble, who barely had any time to warm up, for Jarrod Bowen to take the spot-kick.
David de Gea saved Noble’s spot-kick which sparked jubilant celebrations from the Manchester United team.
Speaking on the podcast about taking the penalty, Noble said: “I couldn’t wait to get on the pitch to take it. I was [thinking] I’ve scored, no problem.
“I always look back now and just think of David de Gea, the only joy I get out of it is thinking ‘he was going through a rough time’ it made him [de Gea] feel better anyway.”
Ferdinand replied: “You’ve got him back to being number one goalkeeper.”
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