After leaving Nottingham Forest in June, Jesse Lingard is still without a club, and he has now extended an offer to Barcelona.
The Spanish newspaper Sport claims as much.
What then has been Lingard’s exact situation since leaving Forest? Let’s investigate more closely.
Barcelona is offered services by Lingard.
This is a rather amazing development, and Forest supporters will undoubtedly be perplexed by the news.
Lingard played with Forest for a season; he joined the team soon after they were promoted, but his time at City Ground was completely unsuccessful.
According to Sport, Lingard has reportedly offered his services to Barcelona because he thinks he can improve their roster.
Lingard has been training in Dubai on his own as he waits to earn himself a contract with a new club.
One aspect that might tempt Barca into making an offer to Lingard is their financial situation, with FFP hanging over their heads still.
During his time with Forest, Lingard scored twice and claimed two assists from 20 appearances.
He was just starting to get into some sort of form before the World Cup saw domestic football take a break.
Following the restart, he struggled desperately with injuries and Steve Cooper opted not to extend his £80,000-a-week contract.
Forest have to learn lessons from Lingard ordeal
Nothing against Lingard on a personal level but his time at Forest seemed destined to fail from the off.
The player spent the majority of 2021/22 not playing football and it was always a long shot that he’d be able to do a job in a team that didn’t have much of the ball.
Lingard did seem like a good character at Forest. When he was injured towards the end of last season, he was always at games cheering the team on from the sidelines.
A new contract for Lingard at Forest was never going to be forthcoming, however.
Now, the challenge for the Reds is to learn from this type of transfer and utilise their wage budget more efficiently in the future.
As for Lingard signing for Barcelona, it would be deemed a real shock transfer.
At 31-years-old, the versatile forward will feel he has something to offer but it’s hard to believe that the Catalan giants don’t already have better options within their current squad.
