One-time reported Rangers target Jesse Lingard has been given the “opportunity” to prove his fitness by West Ham manager David Moyes.
Heading into the Hammers’ 3-1 home defeat to Manchester City over the weekend, the Scottish boss was being asked about the ex-Manchester United star’s presence at the club’s training ground.
Whilst as things stand Jesse Lingard is yet to be offered a deal by West Ham, David Moyes explained that he’s giving the 32-times capped England international a chance to prove he still has enough in the tank to play Premier League football.
It comes after the 30-year-old was released by Ross Wilson and Nottingham Forest in the summer and after Jesse Lingard spent a successful loan stint at West Ham in 2021.
“Jesse has trained with us for three weeks and he’s improved greatly from when he first came in,” said Moyes, as quoted by Sky Sports (15 September).
“He’s in really good condition – much better condition than he was when he first came in.
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“I have to say, when Jesse joined us two years ago I think he scored nine goals in 15 games and was probably the difference between us getting into Europe for the first time. I want to give him every opportunity to get himself back in condition and see how he does.
“So there’s no real update on it at the moment, just to say that he’s back and getting much closer to the levels of fitness where you’d hope he would be.”
Jesse Lingard linked to Rangers before West Ham stint
Whilst there has been no official link between Rangers and Jesse Lingard this summer, rumours led leading club insider Stevie Clifford of Four Lads Had a Dream to comment a few weeks ago.
Claiming that he’d asked the club about the situation, the suggestion is that talk of Rangers interest in the player was laughed out of Ibrox.
Not that there hasn’t been some official reporting surrounding Rangers in the past, with Jesse Lingard linked to Ibrox before that West Ham loan stint.
Online publication TEAMtalk had claimed that both Rangers and Celtic were interested in taking the player on loan during his time with Manchester United in January 2021.
It appears that any suggestion Rangers could move for Jesse Lingard has been thoroughly shot down and let’s see if the attacker can prove his value to West Ham United.