West Ham are likely to leave the squad number at 24 should Jesse Lingard fail to land a deal with the club.
Lingard facing lengthy wait for London Stadium “result”
The feeling inside the club that we have a perfectly adequate squad without having to fill the final spot should that turn out to be the case.
Lingard has now failed to make sufficient impression to land a place even for the second part of the European campaign should the Hammers reach it.
And with seven players currently fighting for places in that area it is difficult to see why he would be required.
We have JWP, Edison Alvares, Paqueta, Soucek, Kudus, and Soucek scrapping it out in that area so that’s a bit of a head scratcher.
However, Lingard continues to train with the squad at Rush Green and ultimately it will be only the manager who decides and although no decision appears to be imminent we can expect a statement before too long surely.
I think it is the correct decision, one that should have been made long before. The same should apply to Downes.