Late developer Lingard leaps into limelight

LIVERPOOL, England — For all the recent talk about the money Jose Mourinho has — or hasn’t — spent at Manchester United, his best player at the moment might be one who cost the club nothing.

United prides itself on the blossoming of its youth-team graduates and Jesse Lingard is the latest to flourish on the big stage.

Lingard scored his seventh goal in his last nine Premier League games to wrap up United’s 2-0 win at Everton on Monday, which ended the team’s run of three draws that might have fully knocked it out of title contention.

At age 25, the forward is finally establishing himself as a first-team regular at United, proving much more influential and clinical than the dropped Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the position just behind the striker.

Lingard signed professional terms with United in 2011 before spending periods on loan at Leicester, Birmingham, Brighton and Derby in the lower leagues from 2012-15. Much like Harry Kane at Tottenham, England international Lingard — a locally born player — has taken a circuitous route to his current position as one of the form players in the Premier League.

“These boys, they jump or they don’t jump,” United manager Mourinho said.

“One thing is to be a talent, another thing is to be a very good player. Some players are not capable of making that jump, some players go from that... to normal players.

“I think Jesse has made that jump. He has been more consistent, adaptable, he understands the game, the different positions. He is going in a good direction.”

It is not just the number of goals Lingard is scoring that is impressive, it’s the quality of his strikes, too. His latest was a curling 25-meter shot that found the top corner in the 81st minute, adding to Anthony Martial’s goal for United in the 57th.

A difficult festive period for United had threatened to get worse on Monday. With Liverpool edging past Burnley 2-1 earlier thanks to an injurytime winner, a defeat for United at Everton hours later would have dropped Mourinho’s team below its archrival to fourth place in the Premier League standings.

Instead, United climbed to second, 12 points behind leader Manchester City, which was due to play its match in hand against Watford on Tuesday.

It was Lingard’s 10th goal of the season and his fourth in his last five appearances.

Lingard’s contribution sealed United’s first win in four games after a run of draws saw it lose more ground on City.

Mourinho took heart from the way his players battled to subdue Everton.

“Our pride, our effort, everything was top class and on top of it we played very well,” he said. “It wasn’t a performance of tired boys, with the worst possible calendar that you gave us.”

Mourinho has called for substantial backing from United’s owners as he plots several signings in a bid to catch City.

Asked if he would be bringing in new faces in the January transfer window, Mourinho added: “I don’t know about transfers.

“In this moment we are in trouble, in two to three weeks time maybe we recover and we breathe in a different way.

“Can we improve now or do we wait until the summer? I cannot say.”