CandH Exclusive by Hughie Southon
Jesse Lingard wants up to £148,500 a week – which includes a signing on fee – to join West Ham this summer!
As we have reported previously the Hammers have made an offer to the 29 year old England international but the player has made it clear he wants an alleged minimum £100,000 to 110,000 a week plus a yearly £2 million annual signing on fee (which works out £38,500 per week if paid in instalments).
That takes the basic wage – before appearance clauses and the like – between £140,000 and £150,000 per week including bonuses which would take him above Declan Rice and others to become the highest earner at the club as it stands.
Lingard’s reasoning is that with no transfer fee involved, the Hammers can afford to pay more in wages.
That is bound to cause dressing room discontent although Moyes is desperate for a Lingard return having become very unhappy with Said Benrahma over the last season.
He is ready to sell the former Brentford midfielder who is believed to be on a wage of £50k a week but given his performance level there would be few takers and the Hammers would again suffer a loss following his £30 million arrival.
It would also ask questions of the £27 million spent on Nikola Vlasic who Moyes brought in when Lingard returned to Old Trafford at the end of his loan spell with us.
A Hammers source simply told us: “Lingard has blown hot and cold for a year, we are no further forward.”
I suggest that we politely decline and point him in the direction of Everton, Aston Villa and Newcastle. There is better value out there despite Moyes’s apparent obsession about signing this player.
No doubt Lingard on form is a class player, as long as the price is right, Benny has looked occasionally brilliant but his decision making is suspect and as for £27 million Vlasic what do we really know? Moyes signs him and gives him about half hour game time all season. An let’s be honest, as far as the Premier League is concerned, this season has been a darn sight poorer than last season. Reinforcements needed!
Ridiculous money for a player who is almost 30, I just cannot understand Moyes anymore, this is all his recruitment team can come up with. If we had any guts in us we would be signing someone like Johnson from Forest, similar type of player but much younger but no this is Moyes, predictable, boring and not prepared to bring in young and hungry players which has has promised so many times. This will be another Ozil scenario, wait till you see we offer him a 3 year deal. I really hope the owners put a stop to this,
Walk away Dave. We had his best days, he had something to prove then. There is a reason he doesn’t play for Utd. Questionable attitude etc. I think this would be a massive error.
Absolutely spot on, why sign him at 30 years old & let Soucek go just to pay his ransom wage demands………. just doesn’t make sense
That is too much. He’ll give too little. And Moyes will be too late.
Thanks, but no thanks. That is ridiculously overpriced.
We had the best of Lingard in the first half of that season, then he fizzled out.
We have Benrahma who has proved capable of scoring and creating goals. He must be properly utilised and given an attacking role , not the utility game Moyes gets him to play. He also needs more confidence that he will get a fair crack of the whip rather than getting hooked most games, even when others have played worse. It seems incredibly that he wasn’t even in the squad for the Brighton game. Lingard had the run of the pitch and a lot of the ball, perhaps if Benny had the same licence without the defensive duties he could perform the role and we spend the money on a striker or two, as we haven’t got one at the moment
I hope We say no thanks. He can be a good player, but even on his loan spell, with a point to prove to Man U – he didn’t sustain his top form. He has already rejected us last January when he could have walked in to permanent appearances, now it seems like big money is his drive after all. I just feel he is contemptuous of us and not worth the disruption now.
No way, put Forlans on the middle, his better there, and can make a pass out of nothing, so get another winger is what I say.
Bye, bye Jesse! You had your chance but didn’t take it. We can do a lot better than Lingard for £150k a week.
Benrahma and Vlasic have further potential. Lingard is a risk not worth taking. He should be banging on Moyes door to come to us and prove Man U wrong
So far our recent success as a club has been based upon under the radar / astute signings. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t pay top money for top signings and although I rate Lingard’s ability, I also have an uneasy feeling about paying him as much as he is asking for.
If it was All about West Ham, Lingard would’ve crawled over broken glass to come to us rather than remaining at Man U as a bit part player and Ronaldo groupie.
It is now ALL about Lingard’s final payday and as much as I enjoyed his loan spell with us, at 29 yrs old, I feel that we now need to move on.
What we do need is young, talented, energetic, under the radar players who are able freshen us up and give us a different dimension as a team and squad for next season.
Brilliant player. Get it done.