West Ham manager David Moyes has admitted he hopes the Hammers can make Jesse Lingard‘s loan move permanent at the end of the season.
The 28-year-old has made a superb start to life in east London, notching up four goals and two assists in six appearances in claret and blue.
With plenty of speculation surrounding what could happen at the end of the attacking midfielders loan spell, Moyes has confirmed he wants to make the move permanent.
During his pre-match press conference ahead of a trip to face Lingard’s parent club Manchester United, he said:
”Jesse wanted to come here, right from the start. When I was talking to him he wanted to come to West Ham. He saw it as a really good place for him. I think he’ll have seen what we’re trying to do. He’s joined a good group of players as well. We’ve got international players and I’m hoping we can add to that in the coming transfer window. The job is to try to add to that.”
”But I would hope Jesse sees this as a good place if it’s possible to be done, and if we think that we want to do it at the end of the season.”
Lingard’s fine performances since becoming an Iron have lead to reported interest from Leicester City, as well as the potential Ole Gunnar Solksjaer would look to reintegrate the former England star back into his Old Trafford squad.
OPINION
Of course, it’s great to hear the manager himself has a desire to keep Lingard beyond this campaign.
For the player, a move anywhere else would make little sense on the face of it, having struggled so badly for form before joining the Hammers, upsetting that particular applecart would seem a risk.
More importantly could be the demands Manchester United put on his head, with £20m mooted thus far.
