Manchester United star Jesse Lingard is ‘too good’ to be on the fringes at Old Trafford, Stuart Pearce has told talkSPORT.
The midfielder excelled on loan at West Ham United in the second half of last season and he returned to Old Trafford looking to make an impact this season.
It now looks likely that game time will be at a premium throughout this campaign, with a transfer to West Ham failing to materialise.
Following the club’s activity in the transfer market which saw them spend around £73 million for Jadon Sancho and re-sign club legend Cristiano Ronaldo, Lingard is expected to receive even less game time.
That has led to the 28-year-old reportedly rejecting a new contract with his current deal expiring next summer.
After hearing about the news, Pearce told the talkSPORT Breakfast: “Players are at liberty to do what they want with their contracts now with Bosman and freedom of contracts.
“He’s [Lingard] missed the opportunity to leave [Man] United in this transfer window.
“He can reassess his situation come January once again and decide whether there’s an opportunity to move clubs, he holds the cards, Jesse.
“The most important thing for him at the moment is his football and he’s playing the odd game for United and also playing extremely well for England and those performances for England might help him get in the United side.
“I think he’s too good a player to be sat on the outside of it not playing and he’s at an age where he needs to be playing.”
Pearce’s words are echoed by former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor who told talkSPORT: “If you look at that Manchester United team, where does he start?
“They’re definitely going to play a sitter, either Fred or [Scott] McTominay and you have got [Bruno] Fernandes, [Paul] Pogba, he’s not going to start in front of them in that system.
“I just want to see him playing football, last season he was unbelievable, happy, smile on his face, playing every week, even taking penalties, he was the main man at West Ham.
“To go from that, I’m sure he will want to stay at Manchester United but after two/three more weeks you’re not playing, you’ll be like ‘I wish I’d gone out on loan or got the move done’.”
With the September international break set to come to an end, Lingard will hope he can force his way into manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans for the upcoming matches.
With four Premier League games as well as Champions League and Carabao cup matches to juggle, the 28-year-old will hope he can receive some much-needed minutes on the pitch.
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