Manchester United ready to listen to offers for Jesse Lingard
Manchester United will listen to offers for Jesse Lingard, the forward having become a fringe player since the emergence of Mason Greenwood and with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer trying to sign Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.
Although Solskjaer is an admirer of Lingard, having coached him as a youth player at United, the 27-year-old is deemed surplus to requirements.
Lingard’s contract ends in summer 2021 and although the club have an option to extend this for a year Solskjaer is open to a sale should the right bid be lodged.
Lingard has scored on his past two appearances, the 2-0 win at Leicester City, which brought a first Premier League goal since December 2018, and Wednesday’s 3-1 victory over Lask. Solskjaer took off Lingard a few minutes after his goal against the Austrian club despite the player having little chance of starting Monday’s Europa League quarter-final against Copenhagen in Cologne.
United are understood to have given Alexis Sánchez a payoff of about £7.5m to pave the way for him to complete a free transfer to Internazionale on a contract to 30 June 2023. The Chile international has been on loan at Inter since August but United have been covering a significant portion of his £390,000-a-week wages. The Italian club are understood to have committed to matching that salary for the first season of their deal.
The 31-year-old’s contract at Old Trafford had two years to run and United are saving about £40m in wages.
The forward failed to live up to expectation at Old Trafford after joining from Arsenal in January 2018, with poor form and injuries meaning he leaves having scored five goals in 45 United appearances.
“Everyone at Manchester United wishes Alexis Sánchez all the best in his future career,” the club said.
United and Inter will face one another in the final of the Europa League in Cologne if they progress.