‘May have been why’ :Jesse Lingard suggests interesting reason he wasn’t played at Nottingham Forest

Jesse Lingard is now in Asia hoping to find himself again, and he recently opened up about exactly why things didn’t work out at Nottingham Forest.

   Nottingham Forest have signed Jesse Lingard as a free agent after his contract with Manchester United expired.

   They were hoping to get Lingard, who lit up the London Stadium during his time at West Ham United, but it couldn’t have been more different.

   The Englishman played 20 times for Nottingham Forest, scoring just two and assisting twice, which was not worth the huge salary and bonuses he had.

   And Lingard has already struggled at his new club, having been branded lazy by his new boss.

   Interestingly, the midfielder has now opened up about his time at Forest and suggested a possible reason why things didn’t work out.

   Jesse Lingard talks about his time at Nottingham Forest

   Lingard, who earned £80,000 a week at Nottingham Forest, even offered himself to Barcelona after leaving, but they did not want him.

   His attitude has been called into question several times during his time at Forest, and he has now spoken about why he feels things have not gone well.

   Speaking to The Times, Lingard said his high bonuses at the time were the reason he wasn’t played because Forest were in danger of PSR.

   “Let’s start with my last Premier League stint, with Nottingham Forest. I loved the club and their fans, but when I joined after their promotion in 2022 it was a one-year deal where the signing bonuses were high.

   “Forest finished with concerns about the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and as the season went on, the need to limit spending and those bonuses may have been the reason I didn’t get on the pitch for some games.

   “But I’ve also struggled physically. I’ve been dealing with severe tendinitis in my knees and Achilles for almost the entire season. Sometimes I’ve played in pain, other times I’ve just been in too much pain to play at all.

   “The problems affected my decelerations – when you can sprint past an opponent or into space and then stop and turn – which is a big part of my game.”

   Jesse Lingard’s time at the City Ground

   Interestingly, the above salary of £80,000 for Lingard is just a base salary and could be raised to £120,000 with bonuses, so you can understand why Nottingham Forest were hesitant to play him at times.

   Lingard was a huge figure behind the scenes at Nottingham Forest and Taiwo Awoniyi spoke of how much he missed him when he left.

   But you can’t keep players based on relationships and a combination of lack of contributions, high bonuses and high wages helped the club break up.