Ole Gunnar Solskjær has said he wants to keep Jesse Lingard at Manchester United, calling him a "red through and through" and hoping that he will stay at the club beyond the end of his contract.
The attacking midfielder has one year left of his current deal and was loaned out to West Ham in 2020-21. On Tuesday night against Young Boys he came on as a substitute but his mistake led to the Swiss side’s late winner.
Solskjær, however, has backed the 28-year-old England international to bounce back and play an important role for the team this season. “He’s got this season left on his contract, the club is talking to him and his dad and we see him as a Manchester United player in the future,” the Norwegian said.
“Jesse has come back into us after a great spell at West Ham. He’s shown his qualities and is back in the England squad, he scored goals for England and we really want to see the best of Jesse this season. We support him and want to keep him here with us. He’s a red through and through.”
Options
Solskjær, whose side have started their league campaign with three wins and a draw and who play West Ham on Sunday, said that his options up front would be widened next week by the return of Edinson Cavani. The Uruguayan has played only 37 minutes this season as he works himself back to full fitness.
“Edinson hopefully will start training with us after the weekend,” Solskjær said. “Hopefully on Monday. Maybe he will be involved on Wednesday [against West Ham in the Carabao Cup]. He had a fantastic season with the impact he made when he got his fitness. He struggled early on with fitness, with niggling injuries and now we feel to get the best out of Edinson this season we need him 100 per cent fit and not push him.
“We’ve got a strong squad that will cope with letting players heal and not risk further injuries. I see Edinson having a massive impact because he is that type of personality and player. He is a top professional and cannot wait to get back on. He’s working really hard to get back on that pitch.”
Late defeat
The late defeat to Young Boys came after United had taken the lead but gone down to 10 men after the sending-off of Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Solskjær admitted that the performance was not good enough but that there is plenty of time to get their Champions League campaign back on track.
“Of course you wait to see them when they come back in,” he said. “The attitude is like you would expect – focused, a little disappointed but not too downbeat. It’s a setback, we have to do better and we have five games to get the 10-12 points we need. It’s not the start we wanted but we are a good team that can bounce back.”
– Guardian
