Jesse Lingard faces tough competition to gain ground at club level, but he has doing well to impress his country
The England winger is being backed to rise to the challenge posed by,
Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival at Manchester United, with England manager,
Gareth Southgate confident that a talented 28-year-old can see regular game time at club level.
That has proved to be an issue for a confident character in recent times,
with a lack of opportunities for the Red Devils leading to a loan spell at West Ham being taken in last season.
No permanent move was made during the summer transfer window,
but, Lingard who netted twice in England’s most recent World Cup qualifying outing against Andorra,
has seen Portuguese superstar Ronaldo added to the ranks at Old Trafford.
Lingard has taken in just four minutes of Premier League football this season,
but, after starring for his country, Southgate is convinced that he can earn favour with domestic employers,
Read Also: Return Of Ronaldo Is A ‘Bad News’ For Van De Beek Says Agent
telling reporters:
“That’s a situation that we have had with different players over a long period with England.
“It wasn’t long ago that the numbers of English players in the league was low,
and we would have to pick players that weren’t regulars in their team or on loan.
We picked Mason [Mount] from the Championship so we have had to be creative.
“We know Jesse has a challenge and he knows he has a big challenge with the quality of attacking players at United.
But, they’ve also got a lot of matches in different competitions so hopefully,
he can take that challenge on and he will take that challenge on.
“He has rebounded brilliantly in the last 12 months from a difficult period and he has,
shown that he has got quality.
It is not necessarily the quality of the opponent but it is performing with the,
quality of players that we have and stand out. That shows his level of quality.
“I know that I have had criticism for including him in squads but he is just a,
player that always plays well for us.
He is always a threat on goal with bright link play.
When we ask him to start wide, we know he will come in and do the give-and-gos.
“He has really good intelligence and works hard without the ball and presses well.
“[Against Andorra] I thought he was the brightest spark,
particularly in the first half as it was the type of game where those players who can manipulate the ball between the lines would shine more than others.”
