West Ham United supporters have been handed a fresh update on their side's chances of re-signing Jesse Lingard as a free agent.
Who have West Ham signed 2023?
David Moyes and the Irons board enjoyed a fruitful summer transfer window overall; completing deals for Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Mohammed Kudus.for a total fee of £134 million.
Going the other way, West Ham were forced to sell former captain and star player Declan Rice to Arsenal for a record-breaking £105 million. Joining Rice out the door, Gianluca Scamacca, Nikola Vlasic and Arthur Masuaku all departed for pastures new.
Moyes' side, thus far, have taken to life without the likes of Rice extremely well. West Ham have won three out of their opening five Premier League matches; sealing impressive wins over the likes of in-form Brighton and lavish spenders Chelsea.
It took last season's treble-winners Man City to finally chalk up West Ham's first defeat of the new campaign, with goals from Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland cancelling out Ward-Prowse's opener.
It would appear that the Hammers have been significantly strengthened to compete on both the domestic front and in the Europa League this season.
Fresh off the back of their Europa Conference League triumph last term, West Ham appear to be building upon the success of their first major trophy since the 1980s.
Will West Ham sign Jesse Lingard?
However, with the Africa Cup of Nations commencing on January 13, Moyes could be left short with a host of his players set to travel for the tournament.
Kudus (Ghana), Said Benrahma (Algeria), Maxwel Cornet (Ivory Coast) and star defender Nayef Aguerd (Morocco) will all feature; meaning the east Londoners may need back up in certain areas.
Benrahma and Kudus travelling means West Ham may be starved of numbers in the attacking midfield areas, and one solution could be re-signing Lingard on a Bosman.
The 30-year-old, who was released by Nottingham Forest in June, is without a club but has been training at Rush Green with West Ham – both in a bid to build up his fitness and on a sort of trial basis.
Lingard has impressed Moyes with his improving physical condition, with the Scotsman telling talkSPORT last week that he's come a long way.
“Jesse has trained with us for three weeks and he’s improved greatly from when he first came in," said Moyes.
"He’s in really good condition – much better condition than he was when he first came in. I have to say, when Jesse joined us two years ago I think he scored nine goals in 15 games and was probably the difference between us getting into Europe for the first time.
“I want to give him every opportunity to get himself back in condition and see how he does."
It had been thought that they were likely to give Lingard a chance on a short-term deal. However, according to West Ham insider and 6 foot 2.co.uk editor Sean Whetstone, who has contributed for Claret & Hugh, there has been a twist to the tale.
According to Whetstone, the chances of West Ham offering their former star a contract are "diminishing", but it will be Moyes who makes the "final decision".
"The chance of signing Jesse Lingard on a free is diminishing with a number of players in the squad claiming his position ahead of him," wrote Whetstone on X.
"The final decision will be down to the manager but unless Moyes plans to convert him into a striker he could be surplus to requirements in the current squad and struggle to get game time if signed."
It will be interesting to see how this develops over the week, and where Lingard could end up next.