Ex-Man Utd star Jesse Lingard set to become a free agent – Ipswich Town, Wrexham & Birmingham City should plot audacious swoop | OneFootball

Former Manchester United man Jesse Lingard could be looking for a new club this winter

Former Manchester United man Jesse Lingard has announced that he’s set to leave current side FC Seoul.

In a statement on his own Instagram account, the 32-year-old revealed that he had mutually agreed to terminate his contract with the club, having signed a two-year deal with the option for a third year in February 2024.

The South Korean outfit said that Lingard “conveyed his desire to move on to the next stage of his football career,” but is yet to confirm where he’ll be heading.

Here, Football League World take a look a three Championship sides that could prove to be an attractive proposition…

Ipswich Town

It has not been an ideal reintroduction to the Championship for Ipswich Town, who would have hoped to be one of the league’s strongest outfits, but have been usurped by the likes of Coventry City and Middlesbrough.

They invested heavily in the summer, bringing in the likes of Sindre Walle Egeli, Kasey McAteer and Marcelino Nunez, but their main bolstering up front saw strikers Chuba Akpom and Ivan Azon arrive on loan from Ajax and Como respectively.

Between them, you can count the goals they’ve scored on one hand, representing moves that simply haven’t worked so far.

Lingard can cover both the striker and no.10 role, much like Akpom, but would land at Portman Road with much greater pedigree.

Added to that, Kieran McKenna already knows everything necessary about Lingard’s capabilities, having been an assistant coach at United between 2018 and 2021, during which time the attacker was a key figure at the Premier League club, for the most part.

Ashley Young would be another familiar face in the dressing room, the pair having played over 100 games together for United.

According to the Mirror, Lingard was handed a £17,500-per-week salary in Seoul, which would easily fit in the Tractor Boys’ wage structure, with Jens Cajuste, Dara O’Shea and Leif Davis their top earners on £35,000 a week, based on Capology estimates.

Wrexham

Lingard has occasionally drawn criticism during his career for his enjoyment of social media and building his public profile.

Arguably, if he decides to target the Championship for a return to England, there is no better club for such a character than Disney-documentary producers, Wrexham.

But he’d be more than a mere tourist attraction; the Red Dragons have done well out of signing veteran attackers with Premier League pedigree, with Kieffer Moore racing towards double figures for goals so far this season.

If Phil Parkinson could combine Moore’s target-man characteristics with Lingard’s bustling, energetic style, with the top-level experience that partnership would bring, it could prove difficult for Championship defences to deal with.

With Lingard having been born and raised in Warrington, the Red Dragons will also likely be geographically attractive to Lingard.

Birmingham City

Another option could provide a full circle moment for Lingard: Birmingham City.

The former England international scored his first senior goals for the Blues, on loan from United over 10 years ago, in the 2013/14 season.

He certainly left his mark in the short 16-appearance secondment, netting six goals and three assists.

It’s the sort of attacking output the Midlands outfit could use, with Jay Stansfield often operating in the no.10 role, and the club’s two summer signings upfront, Kyogo Furuhashi and Marvin Ducksch, hardly pulling up trees.

The youthful exuberance of Stansfield mixed with the experience of Lingard could provide a fearsome double act in the Championship, and could be the necessary ingredient to drag Birmingham further into the promotion conversation.