Lingard’s loving living the dream
JESSE LINGARD loves to football with a smile on his face.
He has always looked happy on the pitch but it also comes from a piece of advice from one of his favourite footballing heroes.
“When I watched videos of Ronaldinho, he’s always smiling, no matter what,” said Lingard. “It’s the love of the game. I remember meeting him in America a few years ago, he said to me: ‘No matter what, always enjoy football, always play with a smile on your face.’
“After that, I constantly do that. It’s mad watching videos of him, then actually meeting him and it felt mad for him to actually have that advice for me. You take that on board from one of the all-time greats.
“As soon as I kicked a ball I was happy. Everyone who dreamed of being a footballer and is a footballer, our dreams are made and we’re in a nice position so all I can do is smile. Of course you want to win the game but that enjoyment side is important.”
Things have not always been easy, even for a player who fulfilled a childhood dream when he scored the winner in the 2016 FA Cup final for Manchester United and last year reached the World Cup semi-final.
And maybe that smile sometimes belies a player who is determined to be successful, wants to win more at his club and is deadly serious about football. Lingard, 27 next month, smiles when reminded of a quote from close pal Marcus Rashford, who says his team-mate is play
V“misunderstood” and is “one of the cleverest players” he has played with.
“If you don’t really know me, a lot of people judge me through social media and what they see,” said Lingard. “It’s a different perception of who I really am.
“I’m a humble guy, down-to-earth guy. I work hard, I enjoy my football.”
He is a product of United’s youth academy, grew up with the club’s values and loved watching and getting advice from the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes andWayne Rooney.
Now there is no doubt in Lingard’s mind that the new generation coming through – Brandon Williams, Mason Greenwood, Tahith Chong, Angel Gomes et al – can help Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s class of 2019 be successful.
Lingard added: “Everyone knows the values of United. We’ve always been a winning team, we love to win games, win trophies. That’s the main thought in our heads: to win trophies.
“It’s so positive at United. If we can think positive all of the time then we’ll really do well. He [Solskjaer] knows the club inside out.
“He’d been there many years and to see him coming back was a special feeling. We have made progress, he’s got us playing.”