West Ham manager David Moyes has confirmed his interest in bringing Jesse Lingard back to London Stadium, should he be available.
The 28-year-old enjoyed a fantastic loan spell in the capital last season and joined Hammers from Manchester United in January before scoring nine goals in 16 Premier League games.
His consistency helped West Ham qualify for the Europa League group stage, but hopes of a permanent return to the club have faded amid talk that Lingard could stop staying at Old Trafford to fight for his place.
90 minutes revealed in July that Lingard was also on Atletico Madrid’s radar, but no bids have been placed and he is still a United player. Now, speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of the Premier League match against Leicester, Moyes acknowledged his interest in making a deal – but said questions about whether a move could happen are not his answer.
“Of course we really enjoyed having Jesse [Lingard] but Jesse is a Manchester United player and the questions are not for me but for Manchester United, “Moyes revealed. We enjoyed having him and if the opportunity arose for us to get Jesse then we would have an interest but in my mind, he is at Manchester United and it is not up to us to discuss.
“We have tried hard and we are trying to add a good group of players and get more options. We know we have a challenging season ahead of us, an exciting one and I hope we can do something.”
In the absence of Lingard, Said Benrahma started the 4-2 victory over Newcastle on the opening day of the season – and he took the chance to shine, scored one point and helped another in a man in the match display.
“That is really good [Benrahma’s form] because we got him to get assists and goals as well so it is fantastic that he has started the season in such good shape and he was in good shape during the pre-season, says Moyes about the Algerian.
“He will try to improve again and if he stays at this level he will be happy.”
