Stavelely: Man Utd star ‘desperately wanted’ Newcastle move
Newcastle chief Amanda Staveley has revealed that Manchester United star Jesse Lingard was among a pair of players to “desperately want” a move to St James’ Park in January.
Lingard, who enjoyed a successful loan spell at West Ham last season, reportedly pushed for the United exit both in the summer, but Ralf Rangnick blocked his transfer.
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But the 29-year-old has been rarely used by the German manager and has no intention of signing a new contract, meaning he can leave Old Trafford for free come the end of the season.
United were said to have stipulated a £12m bonus should Lingard keep Newcastle in the Premier League in dicussions over a January deal.
Staveley insists Lingard and Lille defender Sven Botman were both very keen on a move to St James’ Park.
“We had to encourage players – ‘we’ll be a safe place for you, we’ll deliver and grow’,” Staveley told The Athletic.
“Some desperately wanted to come to us, like Sven, who still does very much and has talked very openly about that.
“Coming through all that showed us we can do it, that we can stick to our plan and if we get criticised on the last day for ‘oh, you’re going after Jesse’, well, Jesse wanted to come to us.
“We did everything. We never stopped. From the start to the finish, we did not stop working.”
There have been reports of a fractious relationship between Rangnick and Lingard, with discord surrounding confusion as to whether Lingard asked for time off following his failed move.
But Rangnick insists there are “no problems”.
Rangnick said: “With regards to Jesse, I have a very good relationship with him, he knows I would have been willing to let him go at least until the issue with Mason [Greenwood] came up, he mentioned some personal issues.
“We have to look forward now, there are no problems whatsoever between myself and Jesse and vice versa. I’m very happy to have him in the squad and he’ll be in the squad for tomorrow night’s game.”
