At the start of the season you probably wouldn’t have thought that Jesse Lingard would be getting rave reviews in the press and on social media; with football fans calling for him not to only travel to Russia for the World Cup, but to actually start for Gareth Southgate’s new look Three Lions.
Lingard made the breakthrough at Old Trafford back in the 15/16 campaign but didn’t really deliver in terms of goals and assists. However, that’s all changed this season as many are tipping the 25 year old for greatness.
Looking at Lingard’s stats so far in the 17/18 campaign you can certainly see why fans, neutrals and pundits alike are hailing him as a player who could go on to become elite in the not too distant future. The 25-year-old has a growing number of devoted followers and fans which is clearly seen on the sports betting pages of the likes of Betting.com. He has 11 goals and five assists from 27 appearances in all competitions and he’s currently averaging a goal every 128 minutes. This would be impressive for a top level striker, never mind an attacking midfielder who has played a bit part role for the majority of his career at Manchester United.
As things stand Lingard is even managing to keep quality players out of the United starting line up thanks to his exploits so far this season and that’s no small feat. You’d feel that when everyone is fit Lingard would probably get the nod ahead of the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Juan Mata, which underlies just how far the English international has come as a player recently.
When comparing Lingard’s contributions against those of his teammates he has been much more influential this season than Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Juan Mata; so it’s easy to see why Jose Mourinho is continuing to show faith in selecting him.
Lingard has so far collected four winners medals as a senior player at Old Trafford, including the FA Cup and the Europa League. He is also the first player to score for United in the Jose Mourinho era and the last of the Louis van Gaal era. To develope even further he will need to win more at club level, and take the fine form he’s showing domestically and translate that to Europe, and in international play too. While City may be running away with the Premier League this season, United are still involved in trophy hunts elsewhere, including the Champions League.
What’s more is that Raheem Sterling, who has been in superb form for Pep Guardiola’s City side, isn’t really that far ahead of Lingard when it comes to goals and assists, conveying how the Manchester United star is arguably one of the best in the division right now.
With the World Cup fast approaching, it’s near enough guaranteed that Lingard will be on the plane to Russia and rightly so. It will give him the chance to announce himself on the world stage, testing his skills and abilities against some of the best players on the planet. People often mention that any success England might have will come via Harry Kane, but Lingard has the ability to change games with his electrifying runs, assists and goals. So that it is a realistic expectation for him to deliver in Russia, and fulfil his true potential for club and country.