Manchester United did not allow Jesse Lingard to leave in the January transfer window. Furthermore, interim manager Ralf Rangnick mentioned that Lingard is unavailable for the FA Cup game against Middlesbrough so he can ‘clear up his mind.’ The midfiidler took to social media to deny those claims.
Following a public rift between manager Rangnick and Anthony Martial, who eventually completed a loan move to Sevilla, as well as Mason Greenwood’s arrest on sexual abuse allegations, the Red Devils find themselves embroiled in another public dispute.
On January 3, The German confirmed in the media that Lingard will be unavailable for Friday’s fourth-round FA Cup clash against Middlesbrough following his decision to take a short break after the club refused to let him leave in the winter transfer window. The England international had reportedly attracted the interest of West Ham and Newcastle, but the board decided to block the move.
“Jesse asked me and the club if he could have a couple of days off just to clear up his mind.
He will be back in the group I suppose next Monday and part of the squad again,”
Rangnick said in the press conference, as per Goal.com.
However, Lingard took to social media to clear the air and ended up disagreeing with the tactician.
“The club advised me to have time off due to personal reasons! But my headspace is clear and I’ll always be professional when called upon and give 100 per cent,”
he wrote on Twitter.
This is the second time incident in recent months of a Manchester United player contradicting the claims of Rangnick on social media. In January, the German manager had claimed that Martial didn’t want to be included in the squad to face Aston Villa, which the French forward contradicted on Instagram saying he has never refused to play a match for the club.
Rangnick further added that the situation surrounding Mason Greenwood might have affected Lingard. Greenwood was arrested on Sunday following suspicion of rape and assault on a woman. Even though he has been released on bail pending further investigation, he remains suspended by United.
“Obviously with all the developments we had in the last couple of days, things changed a little bit.
“On the other hand, we also had no agreement with any other club, so at one stage we had to take a final decision together with the board and we decided to rather keep Jesse until the end of the season,”
he said.
