‘It will happen’: Kevin Nolan suggests West Ham will sign ‘outstanding’ star after ‘surprise’
Kevin Nolan has suggested West Ham United will sign Jesse Lingard this summer, with the former Manchester United star training with David Moyes’ side.
The West Ham United manager explained that “if it works for both the club and the player” he expects “it will happen” and he says he will be signed on a free transfer BBC Radio 5 Live.
Jesse Lingard was on loan at the London Stadium for six months two years ago and helped the club to Europe. Nolan added that the recently sacked Nottingham Forest player had told him West Ham was his “home away from home”.
After Lingard’s first stint at the club, he was given the chance to return but decided against it in order to fight for his place at Old Trafford.
That didn’t work out and when he was sacked by his boyhood club he had another chance to sign with the Hammers last summer but chose Forest instead.
Things weren’t going well on the City Ground as Forest fan and BBC presenter Darren Fletcher expressed his “surprise” at this latest Lingard news and Nolan shared his thoughts on the “outstanding” star.
Presenter Darren Fletcher told Nolan: “One thing that surprised me when I saw it because I wasn’t expecting it is that Jesse Lingard trains with you. What about him and how has he fared? The last time he was with you he was outstanding.’
“Listen, he’s had a fantastic six months with us, hasn’t he?!” said Nolan. “He energized himself, he energized the club and he did what he had to do.
“I think that’s why the gaffer said to him, ‘Come in and train with us.’ At the moment he is not quite fit enough. I think we will continue to assess the situation as we go along.
“But Jesse, the first day you see him he’s like, ‘I feel like it’s my second home and I feel like I have to be here to get there again’.”
“If it works for both of them, I think it will happen. But that will be up to the boss. We’ll just have to wait and see how he’s doing over the next few weeks.”
West Ham should stay away from Lingard
The 30-year-old has been on the back foot since his loan spell at the London stadium and he’s not exactly the answer to the club’s woes.
Yes, during his time at the club he changed and shaped the game, but it was only for a short period of time.
The Hammers are better off pushing for players like Mohammed Kudus than signing Lingard because, as he proved last season, he sometimes couldn’t even make the bench for a Forest side that narrowly avoided relegation.
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