Felt like I wasn’t myself while playing last year, admits Jesse Lingard

Few players have done as well in the second half of the season as Jesse Lingard with the attacker scoring more goals than any player since his move to West Ham. The Hammers have provided the 28-year-old with a new lease on life and it has seen Lingard take it, scoring 9 goals since his loan move in January. Not only that, the Manchester United man is playing a key role as the London side battle for Champions League football but it wasn’t always like that.

Lingard had been a regular under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer until last season but the arrival of Bruno Fernandes and a few other pieces saw things change with him struggling for game-time. It saw the 28-year-old admit that he considered taking a break from football because he didn’t feel like himself. Lingard also admitted that he often “didn’t want to play because my mind wasn’t there” and it affected him immensely.

“Not quit football, just have a time out really. I was going into games happy sitting on the bench and that’s not me. I was telling my brother the other day: ‘Remember when I was happy sitting on the bench and all this?’ I didn’t want to play because my mind wasn’t there, I wasn’t focused at all. I was thinking about other things and obviously bottling it all up; trying to play football, you can’t do it,” Lingard said, reported the Guardian.

“Through the years we had the help for her, but even just for me it’s hard to bottle things up. It feels like you’re not the same person. I felt like I wasn’t Jesse Lingard. Even in football matches, I felt like the game was just passing me by, like I just didn’t want to be there – it was crazy … So, I opened up to United and told them what I was going through, what my mum was going through and they’re always there to help.”