Jesse Lingard's clear demand to Solskjaer as Man Utd star dropped by England

Jesse Lingard was insistent that this season was a chance to finally prove himself back at Manchester United.

His loan move to West Ham at the start of 2021 looked to have been made with at least one eye on a permanent summer exit.

But his form in east London changed things. Bruno Fernandes rightly described the midfielder as the 'best player in the Premier League ' during the second half of the season, such was his impact under David Moyes.

So when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made the decision to keep him at Old Trafford for the upcoming campaign, there was a hope he could wrestle himself back into contention.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has continued to leave Jesse Lingard out of his Man Utd XI ( Image:

Action Images via Reuters)

Speaking earlier this season, Lingard spoke honestly about his journey back to the top following battles with both physical and mental health issues.

Solskjaer has regularly spoken about how important the 28-year-old is to his project, but actions speak louder than words and 63 Premier League minutes prove he remains little more than an afterthought.

And his continued omission will be particularly frustrating to a player that spoke so bluntly about how now was the time for regular football.

"I've been so excited about this season," he told the Players' Tribune. "It might sound like a funny thing to say when you've been at a club all your life, but I have really wanted to show people what I can do, you know what I mean?

"I don't want to be the player who does well for just a few weeks or months. I want to show how many goals and assists I can get over 30-plus games."

"Same goes for England. I'm so honoured to be back in the squad again after the journey I've been on. To bag those two goals against Andorra during the last break...honestly, I was just buzzing!"

Lingard has been left out of England's latest squad ( Image:

Manchester United via Getty Images))

On Thursday Gareth Southgate confirmed that Lingard's omission from the latest Three Lions squad, along with club team-mate Jadon Sancho was down to a lack of minutes.

"With Jesse and with Jadon, they just aren't playing a lot of football compared to the other players in their positions," the England boss said.

"I know people say I'm inconsistent but I don't think I am. If you're playing regularly for your club you've got a much better chance of us assessing your level compared to the rest of the group.

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"With these two lads, they've got great competition for places in the positions they play. Jesse has had 10/15 minutes, I don't know what his form is, what his fitness is like, to be able to assess him against the rest of the group."

It's almost 12 months on from that transformative to the capital and after making it abundantly clear how much he wanted regular football, big decisions will need to be made when the January window rolls around in two months' time.