Jesse Lingard will never be the world’s greatest player, that much is obvious. He lacks the natural pace of a traditional wide-man, the power and ingenuity required for more central midfield roles and in brutal honesty, the quality to be a regular starter at a club of Manchester United’s grand stature. His Red Devils career thus far has bore just ten goals and seven assists in 65 appearances – not exactly a dominant return for an attacking midfielder, even one still learning the ropes at Premier League level.
Yet, Lingard is the kind of player that every Premier League manager would want, and the kind of player that harks back to Sir Alex Ferguson’s days at Old Trafford. Whilst countless world-class stars helped the Scot achieve unprecedented success with United, their efforts were underpinned by simpler yet equally effective team-mates – the likes of John O’Shea and Park Ji-sung – who’d come into the side for specific games tasked with specific jobs, rarely letting Fergie down.
That’s a testament to how talented a manager Ferguson was when it came to rotation, tactics and motivation, but also how the best starting XIs aren’t simply a collection of the best individuals. They must also be the best-suited individuals for the tactics at play and the opponents in question.
Lingard firmly falls into that camp. Whereas most Manchester United fans wouldn’t want him starting every fixture, his telling contributions in the Red Devils’ last three finals highlight how he’s a man for the big occasion, if not every occasion.
Three key components make Lingard so; versatility, industriousness and of course, his knack of scoring goals. The first two, like Ji-sung and O’Shea, make him adaptable to a variety of instructions and trustworthy off the ball. The latter, meanwhile, helps change games in United’s favour. Of course, the fact he’s United born and bred, amid an era in which academy graduates are becoming increasingly rare, doesn’t hurt him either.
His effort in the EFL Cup final on Sunday, sandwiched between two Zlatan Ibrahimovic strikes, may have lacked the magic of his goals in the FA Cup final and Community Shield, but it once again demonstrated how he makes telling contributions in important games. In addition to the above traits, the goals also suggest a mind that doesn’t become overawed by the spectacle of cup final days and the grandeur of Wembley. Even when the quality isn’t always there, such composure under the spotlight can be priceless.
“I think that we will be ready in July to open the door to two or three good players to help us improve our level. Because you reach a certain level of stability, you find your way to play, you find your philosophy to play, this is very important and we are doing that with some stability. The team is quite stable in the way the team plays. Then you need one more push and the next push is in the next transfer window.”
Speculating over Lingard’s future at Old Trafford, therefore, is a rather intriguing exercise. We know Jose Mourinho will be in the market for new players this summer – he’s already admitted as much – and one assumes a new attacking star will arrive, with Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann the most obvious candidate. Just nine Premier League starts this season hints at a departure, but the 24-year-old may well find himself spared because of the qualities that have seen him influence so many big games.
After all, Mourinho is nothing if not a big-game manager and once again, Lingard has proved himself to be one of United’s most important big-game players.