Jesse Lingard is a non-footballing footballer – he won’t be the last

It’s Jesse Lingard’s birthday. He turns 31 today and at this stage of his life he must realize that it is not going to be easy to change some of the perceptions that come from being a non-footballer. For now, at least.

Talk to Lingard’s former teammates and they’ll talk about a guy who was popular at all his clubs and played at a level, including a World Cup semi-final, that automatically commands respect among his fellow pros.

But it’s also a harsh reality that many others will wonder how a player with Lingard’s record of achievement has spent so long without a club and seems less troubled by that situation than you might assume.

Lingard last played competitive football in April, a two-minute substitute appearance for Nottingham Forest against his old club Manchester United. His last 90 minute performances in the Premier League came with Forest in August 2022 and before that you have to go back another 15 months to find the previous one, loaned to West Ham from United.

Since then, it was largely a period of drift for a player who had previously won 32 England caps and contributed to some of United’s happier moments since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, including the winning goal in the 2016 FA Cup final. There have been some nagging injuries, some personal problems and only sporadic glimpses of his undoubted talent.

Jesse Lingard celebrates his winner in the 2016 FA Cup Final (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

And, a little over two years since his last England appearance, the life of ‘JLingz’ these days involves a completely different routine: take a ball and go outside, alone, apart from a personal trainer, to work on his fitness.

Something similar happened to Michael Owen when he left United at the end of the 2011-12 season and it quickly became apparent that a player who was once football royalty, with all the superstar’s wealth and accessories, might be in his position within must re-evaluate. the sport.

Owen, like Lingard, was in his early thirties. His highlight reel was even more extensive, as a former Ballon d’Or winner, but age has also started to become his biggest opponent. And while neither will ever end up on Skid Row, it can’t be easy trying to adjust when the boundaries shift and the sport as a whole stops looking at you so favorably.

In Owen’s case, he was too old, too expensive and too injury-prone for the elite clubs and there were times over a long and challenging summer when he considered giving up football to devote himself to his horse racing business.

“I got a couple of inquiries from overseas – one from Vancouver Whitecaps, a Canada-based MLS side, and one from an Australian side, Newcastle Jets,” Owen wrote in his 2019 autobiography. “When I considered those two possibilities, neither one particularly appealed.

This apart, Stoke City were the only Premier League side to show any real interest, and if you remember their tactics under Tony Pulis’ management, it always seemed odd to introduce a player of Owen’s size and skill in their forward line. Owen himself had doubts. But he signed for them anyway because the alternative would mean his absence from football would be longer than six months – which is exactly what is happening to Lingard now.

Michael Owen and Stoke City, managed by Tony Pulis, were an unhappy marriage (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

“My God, the whole episode was so empty,” Owen added. “When I first for Liverpool, I literally couldn’t write my name fast enough. The same applied to Real Madrid and, for that matter, Manchester United. I have to admit that when I signed (for Stoke) I did it with absolutely no joy. It was just a job and I just signed because I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. What else can I do?”

It seems like a question Lingard must have asked himself many times since he started turning up at a sports center in Newton Heath – the area of ​​north Manchester where United was founded – to go through his training sessions, sweating and then to upload the photos. to his social media channels with snappy phrases like “keep pushing” or “positivity and progress”.

“Even the hardest days will pass eventually,” reads one recent post. “We only act positively.”

The intention is presumably to show potential employers how hard he works, how committed he remains to the sport, whatever anyone may say, and how he is ready for a new challenge. His ambition, it seems, is to find a team in the U.S. “Motivation, hunger and love for the game,” read another recent post.

Unfortunately for Lingard, the new MLS season doesn’t start until February. Nothing has been fixed and over the past six months the football industry has become hard-nosed and cynical enough for many to question its priorities. Why, they want to know, is someone of his ability out of work? Does he not care? Doesn’t it hurt his professional pride? Because nobody wants to be a non-footballer right?

The questions are understandable because, however it is dressed, there is nothing orthodox about a footballer spending half a year, or possibly longer, out of the game.

But there is some context here and, if anything, the nature of modern-day football makes it likely that we will see more of this happening in the future.

Here we have a man of extraordinary wealth who is in a position where he doesn’t have to rush into what he does next.

It is not about a lack of offers, according to people with knowledge of the situation who will remain anonymous to protect their positions, or that Lingard has any arrogant assumptions about the level he should be playing. It’s more about waiting for the deal that suits him best, rather than feeling forced or pressured to accept whatever comes his way.

Jesse Lingard started the 2018 World Cup semi-final for England against Croatia (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

After all, that’s exactly what Owen did with Stoke and look how it turned out. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Owen didn’t fit into Pulis’ big-man-at-the-post methodology, sitting on the bench while Peter Crouch and Jonathan Walters started in attack.

In a moment of tragicomedy, one training session ended with one of the senior professionals holding court in the dressing room asking with a mixture of humor and seriousness: “What the hell is Michael Owen even doing in here?”

Owen, asking himself the same question, retired at the end of the season after making no league starts but offered to hand in his notice on at least one occasion during the preceding months.

Against that kind of background, Lingard might be entitled to be picky. It might be much more difficult if the interest had dried up. But the phone still rings and as long as it does, the attitude seems to be: why rush?

Lingard previously spent several weeks training with Al Ettifaqthe Saudi Pro League club where Steven Gerrard is the manager and includes the players Jordan HendersonMoussa Dembele and Georginio Wijnaldum.

Prior to that, Lingard had a similar arrangement at West Ham and even featured for David Moyes’ side in a behind closed game against Ipswich. Many wondered if this could lead to something more substantial and Lingard getting the chance to mend his relationship with the club’s supporters, who resented his decision to choose Forest over them a year earlier. But nothing more came of it and all the talk about Saudi Arabia also came up

wolves play with the idea of ​​pulling for him. Other clubs in the Premier League have discussed his availability, along with one from Italy. However, nothing has worked out and it is worth remembering that, despite everything, Lingard will not come cheap. Forest paid a basic weekly salary of £115,000 ($147,000), plus some obvious bonuses, which led to some problems between the player’s camp and the club’s owners.

Jesse Lingard has had a disappointing time at Nottingham Forest (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Lingard isn’t flawless and you have to wonder if, in hindsight, he admits it was a mistake not to rejoin West Ham last season, especially as it meant he wasn’t part of their Europa Conference League -triumph, the club’s first major trophy for 43 years.

Other offers were suggested by Newcastle United and Fulham, with four-year deals under discussion. Instead, Lingard signed a one-year deal with Forest, starting just 14 games, rather than accept the club’s offer of a two-year deal.

Maybe that was a mistake, too, but he and his advisors thought he’d be in a stronger position if he played well for a year, which he didn’t, and became available on a free transfer.

With that in mind, it becomes easier to understand why Lingard wants to make sure his next choice is the right one.

GO DEEPER

Jesse Lingard and Manchester United’s unhappy farewell

His penance comes in the form of 24/7 reminders, via the cesspool of social media, that he is a dodger and a spendthrift, that he threw away his career and various other charming responses to go along with all the hostile headlines and frequent unpleasantness to go. that someone in his position must encounter.

Some people can get extremely angry when they think a super-rich footballer isn’t making the most of his talent. It is an everyday part of Lingard’s life and it is perhaps the saddest thing given that in the past he has tried to open up about some of his more difficult times at Old Trafford and his occasional struggles with mental health.

So, yes, maybe MLS will be the best place for Lingard to reinvent himself and, since it’s his birthday, maybe we can hold off on judging him too harshly until we see what happens next.

Did he make some questionable choices? Yes. Does he have to find his way back soon? Absolutely, unless he wants to become one of football’s forgotten men. But he can play another five or six years, if he really wants to.

The next few weeks will tell us more. It all comes down to Lingard’s priorities and that is the biggest question when 31 ends up being far too young for any player to talk about in the past tense.

(Top photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)