Rejected Manchester City and Liverpool to join Old Trafford, admits Jesse Lingard

The midfielder has made quite an impact for the Red Devils since making his debut for the club at the start of the 2014/15 season before leaving on loan. However, since then Jesse Lingard has gone on to make more than 180 appearances for Manchester United and has averaged more than 30 appearances a season for the club. Not only that, the 26-year-old has won the Europa League, Premier League, FA Cup and the League Cup with the club.

It’s one of the many reasons why Lingard is a regular for England boss Gareth Southgate with the Englishman earning 24 caps for his country. But in an interview, the midfielder went on to admit that he was approached by Liverpool, Manchester City and Everton as a boy but turned them down to sign for the Red Devils since they were the team he supported as a child.

“It was left down to me to pick a club and I felt United were best suited to me personally. Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton and I think Crewe at the time (were interested) but I knew Man United was my home. I have a picture in a United kit when I was one year old. When I was seven I had trials and signed when I was nine,” Lingard told ManUtd.com.

The 26-year-old has had a mixed couple of years however, with injuries and various other issues preventing him from putting his best foot forward. And like most modern footballers, that has seen Lingard subjected to online abuse from both fans and critics but the English international went on to reveal that it doesn’t affect him as he simply ignores it. He also added that it’s not why he became a footballer but instead just a side-effect of becoming so big so fast.

“For me, I just don’t read anything online. When I first got into the first team I started reading things like that, but now I still don’t read it if it’s going well. One person can hate you and one person can love you, that’s just life. You have to get on with it. We’ve got to play in front of 75,000 people every week.

“At United, it’s the biggest club in the world, so you get criticised either way. For us as players, we’ve just got to get on with it and be thick-skinned. I love football. I love training, I love playing, I love the fans, the stadiums. I love everything about football. For me, I’m an out-and-out footballer,” he added.