J Lingz

[Tricky]

Lingard speaks about his time at Forest and makes out he never wanted to come in the first place. Couldn’t he have said that before he took the free holiday in Greece?


Leaving Manchester United was a wrench. He'd spent 22 years at Old Trafford before leaving for Nottingham Forest in 2022.
The move to the City Ground didn't go according to plan – an injury hit campaign restricted Lingard to 12 Premier League starts before his 12-month contract expired in the summer of 2023.
Lingard does have regrets about the Forest move. He could have gone to West Ham, where he had enjoyed a resurgence during a six-month loan stint in 2021.
He had done so well at London Stadium that he was recalled into the provisional England squad for the delayed Euro 2020, just missing the cut for the final party.
Under David Moyes, the Warrington-born footballer produced some of the best football of his career.
So when the opportunity arose to be reunited with Moyes on a permanent basis in the summer of 2022, Lingard's heart was already in east London.
So why did he end up at Forest?
"The Forest deal, when we were going through that - and I don't want to go into too much detail - but I wasn't in control of anything at that time," he says.
"I basically didn't have a choice. I knew what I wanted to do, I knew what offer was on the table from West Ham and what was on offer from Forest - there was a place I'd have preferred to go.
"But people have their own say and at the time I didn't really feel like I could voice my opinion.
"Now I can see people didn't have my best interests [at heart]. But obviously West Ham didn't happen. I went to Forest.
"The Forest thing happened for a reason, for me to find out certain things."

Funny that! I recall him saying he HAD the choice between us and West Ham, but he felt the love with Forest, which he didnt feel with West ham.

The lad is full of shit!