Jesse Lingard, The EPL star who landed in Korea

Profile

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Name

 

Jesse Lingard

 

Birth

 

15th December 1992

 

 

Belong

 

National team : England

Club : FC Seoul

 

Position

 

Offensive Midfielder, Winger

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The most famous player in South Korea at the moment.
A star from a European big league who has moved to the K-League.
He always seems to be playing around, but when the time comes, he shows something.

This is Jesse Lingard, who has joined FC Seoul in this transfer window.

 

He spent 10 years as a Manchester United player, having emerged from their youth system.
In his youth, he had loan spells at clubs like Leicester City, Birmingham City, and Brighton. 

However, he didn't truly establish himself as a regular in the Manchester United squad until 2015.

During his youth days, he was a highly touted prospect.
He was part of the same youth setup as Paul Pogba, Michael Keane, Joshua King, Tom Cleverley, and Danny Welbeck. 

However, among them, only he and Paul Pogba managed to establish themselves in the Manchester United first team from 2015 onwards.

That's how highly regarded he was as a promising talent.

 

He returned from his loan spells before the 2015-2016 season and joined the Manchester United first team squad.

Under the management of Louis van Gaal, he received considerable playing time from his first season onwards.

This was partly due to van Gaal's tendency to actively utilize young players.

His performances were quite commendable. 

 

With his vigorous activity, rapid speed, and ability to execute tactics well, he contributed significantly to the smooth operation of the attack while playing as a winger. 

He even scored his debut goal in his debut season and notably scored the winning goal in extra time during the FA Cup final after coming on as a substitute late in the second half, securing the team's victory.

 

Lingard has often been compared to Park Ji-sung in terms of playing style.

Despite differences in skill level, their styles are remarkably similar.

While deployed as a winger, Lingard exhibits a high work rate and actively contributes to defensive duties.
His movement to find empty spaces on the pitch is also noteworthy.

Although he may lack in dribbling and individual skills, he excels in providing pivotal passes.

There was a time when he was among the best in Europe in terms of secondary assists, which are passes leading to assists.

 

However, personally speaking, Lingard has quite a few weaknesses when it comes to playing in top European clubs.

The most significant issue lies in his lack of finesse.

Despite finding himself in good positions with good movement, he often surrenders possession to the opponent with careless touches or dribbles.

Associated with this is his vulnerability to pressure.

Due to his unstable touches, it takes him longer to fully control the ball, allowing opposing players to apply pressure. 

Stable touches would allow him to stabilize the ball more quickly, giving him time to assess the situation.

If the opposing team's pressure is weak, or if there is no pressure due to the situation, Lingard could use his good football intelligence and the time to assess the situation to release the ball into a good position. 

However, as we know, the Premier League is notorious for its intense pressure. 

Especially with physically imposing pressure, there is no time to think if your touch is uncertain.

Furthermore, because of his poor touches, he struggles to evade pressure. 

His dribbling skills, individual ability, or a few touches to evade pressure are weak, so he often appears unable to handle pressure.

 

Another issue is his tendency to not fully focus on football.

His lively personality and desire to enjoy life are commendable.

As we all know, he has even established his own brand by popularizing his goal celebrations and engaging in active external activities.

However, when a player has recorded zero attacking points in a year and is more focused on TikTok and Instagram or shows interest in his own business ventures, fans can understandably become frustrated.

Of course, players have a lot of free time.

Apart from training sessions that last 3-4 hours every day excluding match days, the rest of the time is free for them to do as they please.

Thus, it's true that what players do in their free time is generally their own business.

However, as a professional player, especially one playing for one of the top clubs in the world's top leagues, if he has shown such poor performance over the course of a year with minimal impact on matches, he should have refrained from excessive involvement in TikTok and Instagram.

 

I hope to see him display some class in the K League.

Despite his recent dip in form, he's a player who spent 10 years in the Premier League, and during his loan spell at West Ham, he even received the Player of the Month award, showing that he has reached significant highs in his career.

Furthermore, the current manager of FC Seoul, Manager Kim Gi-dong, is adept at understanding the characteristics of players and utilizing them effectively in suitable positions.

Therefore, there's a good chance that he can bring out the best in Lingard and showcase his strengths.

If he can effectively demonstrate his strengths, there's ample potential for him to excel as a top player in the K League.