Dean Windass is confident that West Ham will sign Jesse Lingard before the transfer window closes later this month.
Lingard has been linked with a return to the London Stadium following his memorable loan spell during the second half of last season, with The Athletic claiming last month that he would cost £30m.
However, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has previously said that Lingard is part of his plans for the current season despite the array of attacking players at his disposal.
Lingard featured heavily in pre-season, but a positive COVID-19 test saw him miss out on being involved in United’s opening-day victory over Leeds.
He was back in the frame at Southampton on Sunday – and made his first Premier League appearance for the Red Devils since the final day of the 2019-2020 campaign.
But Lingard played only the final five minutes, which suggests he’s some way down the pecking order, with both Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford to come back into the fold.
West Ham first-team coach Stuart Pearce recently told talkSPORT that West Ham are still interested in signing him, and Windass exclusively told FFC that he will return to east London:
“I think West Ham will do that. I just can’t see him being at Manchester United with Sancho coming in now, and you’ve still got Martial and Dan James.”