West Ham homecoming plunged into doubt, with two big clubs trying to snatch star signing
West Ham could see their sluggish approach in signing Jesse Lingard come back to bite them, as Galatasaray and Fenerbache are now reportedly interested in making a move for him.
Lingard has been a free agent since leaving Nottingham Forest at the end of his one-year contract with them in July. His time with the club was not overly successful.
While the attacking-midfielder did score twice and assist twice – bagging a goal and an assist in a 2-0 win over Tottenham – those each came in the League Cup, while he failed to find the net or assist in the Premier League.
The last time he was massively impactful was when he spent the second half of the 2020/21 season on loan with West Ham. Lingard bagged nine goals and provided five assists in 16 games, and almost everyone at the club fell in love with him.
The Hammers attempted to sign him again for the following season, but the star wanted to stay with United for personal reasons, before moving to Forest for the next campaign.
Since being a free agent, Lingard has been training with West Ham, but David Moyes is yet to make a decision on re-signing him.
His reluctance to do so could throw the star’s homecoming – and it would be tough not to call it that after how he was received by fans previously – might now be thrown up into the air.
Indeed, Football Insider reports the Hammers now ‘face competition’ from Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. It’s said the Turkish giants are both ‘considering a move’ for him.
It’s tough to say why West Ham are yet to offer him a deal, as the report suggests Lingard ‘has impressed’ while training with the club over the past few weeks.
But if they don’t act soon, they might miss out on him, as it’s also stated Turkey is ‘a likely destination’ for the former Manchester United star if the Hammers don’t make a formal offer.
As such, if Lingard gets the feeling it doesn’t seem as if they are going to offer him a deal, he could aim to make a move to one of the other interested sides.
It’ll be interesting to see if West Ham move any quicker than they have done already. Galatasaray and Fenerbahce won’t want to wait forever, given their season has started, so they could ramp up interest soon.
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