Spurs Ready To Pounce If Manchester United Star’s Contract Talks Stall

The Mirror report that Jesse Lingard will hold talks with Manchester United this week regarding a new contract. While all of this is going on, Tottenham are keeping an eye on Lingard’s situation, ready to make a move if contract talks stall. 

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The 24-year-old is apparently one of the lowest paid members of the Manchester United squad, and having seen the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba arrive on preposterous amounts of money, Lingard would like his salary to be raised.

It is believed that Lingard wants to move into the middle band of earners at the club, and a £60,000 per-week deal would take the Englishman into this middle band. Although the salary itself might not be an issue for a club as big as Manchester United, it is the length of contract that could prove to be a stumbling block in negotiations. The Mirror claim that Lingard is seeking a new five-year deal at Old Trafford, whereas United would prefer him to put pen to paper on a fresh four-year deal.

If negotiations grind to a halt, it has been suggested that Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham would be more than happy to take the Englishman away from Old Trafford.

Mauricio Pochettino has a track record of working well with young English players with huge potential, and a player like Jesse Lingard certainly falls into this bracket. The England international is also not afraid to show up in the bigger matches, scoring his third goal at Wembley in Manchester United’s 3-2 EFL Cup final win over Southampton.

Lingard has found an extended run in the team under Jose Mourinho hard to come by, and has made fourteen Premier League appearances so far this season. In that time, the 24-year-old has created 20 chances and made 18 key passes despite providing just two assists.

The Manchester United man could find himself in the starting eleven tonight though as Jose Mourinho and United travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup this evening. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is suspended, Anthony Marial and Wayne Rooney are both injured, and Marcus Rashford is suffering with illness. That leaves United with no recognised striker for the crunch clash with Chelsea, and Lingard could well occupy the forward role at Stamford Bridge.