Ralf Rangnick has only started Jesse Lingard once during his interim reign as Manchester United manager.
That was in the Champions League dead rubber against Young Boys and he also nearly let Lingard leave in the January transfer window.
Lingard has since been reintegrated back into the squad but has only had late cameos off the bench to show what he can do since.
But Rangnick told United’s official website ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Leeds that he has been impressed with Lingard in training, as well as teammate Victor Lindelof, who returned to the side for the 2-0 win over Brighton on Tuesday.
“To start with, it is good and important to have Paul back again and available but obviously we have a high level of competition still,” said Rangnick.
“We have Fred, so we have enough players, we have Jesse Lingard in good shape in training, so we still have a high level of competition in each area of the field, of the pitch – be it the backline, the midfield or up front.
“So right now, it is not easy to decide and choose the right players, but it is better this way, than having only 15 or 16 outfield players available.”
On Lindelof, he added: “He’s a top professional and he did well before he was ill and before he had the incident with his house. From now on, he will play and he is also a candidate to play so we have enough players in the centre of defence who can play with a high amount of experience.”
United have a busy week of games with the Champions League coming back and it will be interesting to see what part Lingard plays in it all.
It sounds like he has not let the failure to agree a January exit affect his performances in training, and perhaps Rangnick wanted to praise him publicly to help smooth things over.
There was a difference of opinion between player and manager earlier this month over Lingard’s unavailability to play against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup.
But he is clearly back in contention now and training well, which bodes well and the England midfielder will hope for more minutes in the games ahead to remind Rangnick what he can do.
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