Premier League star who ‘agreed’ to join Newcastle United officially becomes a free agent

Nottingham Forest have announced the departure of Jesse Lingard following the end of his contract.

Following his release from Manchester United, Lingard signed a lucrative one-year deal with the newly-promoted Premier League last summer but the move failed to have the desired impact.

Although Forest retained their top-flight status, the 30-year-old played little part. Lingard featured 17 times in total but started only two games since Boxing Day. His last appearance was against Man United in mid-April.

To little surprise, Reds boss Steve Cooper has opted against negotiating a new contract with the attacking midfielder, who has been heavily linked with a move overseas.

Lingard came close to joining Newcastle United on loan in January 2022. A deal between the Magpies and Lingard was agreed but Man United refused to sanction the move.

“I wanted to go on loan again in January because I wasn’t playing again,” Lingard told the Diary of a CEO podcast. “Newcastle was on the cards in January. The deal was done - everything - but the United squad was not big enough.

“A couple of players went out on loan and when it came to me, John Murtough [Manchester United director of football] rang me and was like, ‘no, you’re not going on loan.’ I was like, ‘he’s on loan. Let me go and enjoy my football. I’m not playing here so let me go on loan.

“I want to play football.’ He was like, ‘what do you want? Days off?’ I said, ‘no. I want to go play football.’ They stopped the loan, obviously I was p*.”

Lingard was frozen out by Ralf Rangnick for the second half of that season. Newcastle retained an interest but weren’t willing to meet the player’s reported £200,000-per-week wage demands.