According to the Daily Mail, West Ham and Ipswich have both agreed not to record or release any footage from their friendly played behind closed doors. While Jesse Lingard develops, West Ham United and Ipswich Town reach a confidentiality agreement.
The club “consider offering” Jesse Lingard a contract to return to the club after he trained with them during the summer, according to the newspaper’s website on Thursday, September 7. He is expected to play for the Hammers in the game that day.
Wolves are also interested in signing the 30-year-old former Manchester United and Nottingham Forest player, but as West Ham and Ipswich have agreed to keep negotiations confidential, it doesn’t look that anyone’s performance at Rush Green will be made public.
Lingard played just one hour of Premier League football since the beginning of 2023 before leaving the City Ground at the conclusion of the previous season.
Prior to that, David Moyes had frequently wanted to bring him back to the London Stadium after his productive 2021 loan, but he had always been let down.
Since Lingard left West Ham the first time, after scoring nine goals and dishing out five more assists in just 16 games, the relationship between the two clubs has been somewhat of a saga.
Even the former England international would undoubtedly admit that he should have returned sooner with the benefit of hindsight given that he scarcely played during his final season at Old Trafford before his high-profile move to Forest didn’t pan out.
While it would have been unlikely that he maintained his brilliant form from that half-season loan, it would have been better than what he produced amid limited opportunities in Manchester and Nottingham. Two years older and with so little football experience in the intervening months, his quality has likely declined.
But given that Wolves are starting to pose a threat, it seems like it will be either now or never if Moyes is to finally get him back in the team.
Given that Mohammed Kudus has been acquired at a significant cost, it may be debatable if the West Ham manager needs Lingard as a backup option right now.
But if he is even close to a reasonable level, the Scot may prefer an additional attacking option, so if it is affordable, a late signing may suddenly be on the horizon.