Garry Neville warns Jesse Lingard that he should be thinking of walking away from Manchester United if he wants to play regularly.
On-loan Manchester United midfielder Lingard has impressed since joining West Ham United this season. However, Neville believes the Premier League giants could want to take him back into their squad following his excellent form.
Lingard has outstanding stats at the Hammers with already scored six goals and three assists. Also, the 28-year-old scored one and set up another in Monday’s West Ham United 3-2 win over Wolves.
“He does an incredible amount of running. It’s what he does. He’s good out of possession and good in possession,” Neville said.
He explained how hard it to be at the United team and the high expectation that deemed Lingard a surplus.
“At Manchester United, because there is that expectation of what you need to be, to be a wide player there, he’s always going to get a difficult press.
“But if he was playing in a world-class team. If he was, say, Ji-Sung Park 10 years ago playing with Ronaldo and Rooney. Doing that supplementary role, then people would be saying he’s perfect for this squad,” Neville explains.
“The problem is he was not playing in Manchester United teams as good as that, so he gets a bit of stick,” he added.
According to Neville, the Red Devils could want Lingard back to Old Trafford. However, he believes the competition at the club will not allow Lingard regular playtime and should move on.
“If Jesse wants to play, and you can see he does want to play, then he needs to leave because he’s not going to play every single week for a Manchester United team that’s competing for second or first place in the league.
“But if he’s willing to go back there and compete and be the player that Dan James has been for the last few weeks, in and out. Then there’s no doubt he can play for Manchester United,” he concluded.