Man United Rumors: Red Devils Close To Completing First Departure Of The Season

A Manchester United outcast could be on his way to finding a new lease on life with a rival club.

Jesse Lingard is one of the Manchester United players who have not been handed regular playing time for various reasons.

During Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time as the club’s boss, Lingard has already been on and off in terms of pitch action.

While it is yet to be known whether his fate will be the same under Red Devils interim manager Ralf Rangnick, English top-flight rival Newcastle United is already making a move.

Newcastle United is currently in the process of rebuilding and is believed to be plotting transfer swoops for several targets. Among them is Manchester United’s Lingard, The Times reported.

According to the report, Newcastle is “prepared to make Lingard its highest earner” as a transfer move in the January window is already being worked out.

Lingard’s current deal with Manchester United is set to expire next summer, and Newcastle wants to “kickstart its season” by bringing in the England midfielder.

As things stand, "talks have already taken place" between Lingard’s camp and Newcastle and the player has been offered a "four and a half-year deal.”

The said offer is set to make Lingard the club’s highest earner as it is “significantly in excess of 100,000-a-week salary" of Newcastle’s current highest-paid player, the report added.

Lingard, who had a remarkable loan spell at West Ham United, has been very vocal about his desire to play regular minutes in club football.

He didn’t quite manage to achieve it under Solskjaer despite being confident that he can deliver.

“If I keep performing well and doing well you never know what might happen so I keep confident in myself and when I get time on the pitch I've got to carry on doing what I'm doing,” the 28-year-old told Sky Sports in October.

"You want to start games,” he added. “When I'm a sub I'm always ready to play. I'm always ready to be needed when I'm called up.”

At present, Lingard has yet to play under new Manchester United boss Rangnick not because the coach didn’t want to but because of discomfort.

“The team did well against Arsenal, especially in the second half. As everyone was fit and available, there was no reason to change the XI,” Rangnick explained. “Jesse [Lingard] and Anthony [Martial] indicated after training [yesterday] that they didn’t feel well, they felt pain. That’s the reason they are not in the squad.”