'People didn't have my best interests at heart' - Ex-Man Utd star Jesse Lingard reveals he 'wasn't in control' of failed Nottingham Forest move as West Ham were surprisingly snubbed

Lingard joined the then newly-promoted club at the end of his Manchester United contract in 2022, despite interest in his services from West Ham, who he had enjoyed a successful loan spell with in the 2020-21 campaign. And the former England international has now opened up on where things went wrong that summer.

Lingard toldBBC Sport: "The Forest deal, when we were going through that - and I don't want to go into too much detail - but I wasn't in control of anything at that time. I basically didn't have a choice. I knew what I wanted to do, I knew what offer was on the table from West Ham and what was on offer from Forest - there was a place I'd have preferred to go. But people have their own say and at the time I didn't really feel like I could voice my opinion. Now I can see people didn't have my best interests [at heart]. But obviously West Ham didn't happen. I went to Forest."

Lingard played just 20 times for the Midlands club, scoring two goals and creating two more in his one season at the City Ground. He has since moved on to FC Seoul, where he says he has "found peace" having made "100% the right choice".

Lingard, whose deal with the South Korean club ends in November, said of his future: "Other possibilities are out there - of course you are going to think about it. We are only human. We will see what happens when the transfer window opens."