Solskjaer sidesteps burning Lingard question but his future with Reds is uncertain
THE first question put to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after Manchester United’s last-gasp FA Cup quarter-final win over Norwich City was not about Harry Maguire’s late winner or Odion Ighalo’s growing cult hero status, but about a player who had started for the first time since lockdown, put in a muted performance and had been substituted little more than an hour in.
Jesse Lingard was also a frequent topic of conversation in the pre-match briefing, following his absence from the squad against Sheffield United last Wednesday. Solskjaer said that was due to an illness and he promised Lingard would start at Carrow Road, but there were no similar guarantees on whether the 27-year-old would be signing a new contract at Old Trafford any time soon.
“Let’s see what the future will hold,” was all Solskjaer would say on the matter on Friday, despite the fact that Lingard could leave as a free agent in a year’s time or for a modest fee before then. United have an option to extend his existing terms by a further year but Lingard’s own manoeuvrings – like calling on Mino Raiola’s services, for example – suggest he is considering his options.
When the subject of Lingard’s future was raised again on Saturday night, Solskjaer sidestepped the question. Instead, he focused on the benefits that United’s fringe players would feel from their run-out at Carrow Road.
“I think Jesse and the others that haven’t played needed another game, needed minutes, needed to get their sharpness back and in that respect it’s worked out really well.”
To be fair, Lingard needs minutes. He has played just 1,777 in all competitions this season – fewer than any other United outfield player to have avoided a lengthy injury spell or arrived late, fewer than academy graduates Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams, and only a few hundred more than reserve goalkeeper Sergio Romero. If that is not an indication of where he is in Solskjaer’s thinking, what is?
And Solskjaer’s reluctance to use him is understandable given his miserable spell over the last 18 months. Lingard has only scored twice and assisted twice this season.
He has famously failed to score in the Premier League since the first game of Solskjaer’s caretaker spell in charge back in December 2018. He has failed
to register a top-flight assist since the following January.
That is a poor record for any attacking midfielder, but those struggles have also fuelled a campaign of gratuitous criticism. Check the replies to his post-match tweet on Saturday evening after a game in which Maguire struck two minutes from the end of extra-time. Lingard may have fancied his chances of making an impact had he been on the pitch for extra-time when Norwich were down to 10 men following Timm Klose’s 89th-minute red card for a professional foul.
The focus on Lingard’s output now threatens to overshadow the good work he does when given the opportunity. Lingard is United’s most active presser – harrying opponents more on average than any other member of the first-team during this season’s Premier League campaign – and the second most successful at closing down the opposition this season, behind only Fred.
That would suggest there is a role for Lingard somewhere, especially if he can start to produce the goals and assists that saw him establish himself as a regular starter under Jose Mourinho during the 2017-18 campaign. But is that role at Old Trafford? Would a return to form come easier if Lingard could enjoy a fresh start? He clearly has something to offer as a pressing forward but – given how difficult the last year-and-a-half has been – perhaps not to Solskjaer’s United.
Lingard made his 200th appearance for the club shortly before lockdown, surpassing Dwight Yorke, Duncan Edwards and Eric Cantona among others. At the moment, you would not bet on him reaching his 250th. The questions on whether he will stay or go will keep coming during the remainder of this season and possibly even throughout the next, but they increasingly seem to have an obvious answer.