Gary Neville has hit out at the Jesse Lingard "fuss" insisting finer players than the midfielder haven't got the Manchester United send off they wanted.
The academy graduate opted not to sign a new deal back at the beginning of the season and will now leave the club on a free this summer. Lingard has struggled for minutes throughout the campaign despite showing his quality once more in a loan spell at West Ham United last term. He's continued to be used sporadically by Ralf Rangnick during his interim tenure.
United's final home game of the season saw them beat Brentford 3-0 on Monday night. Lingard was named on the bench, which is where he remained as the three subs were used. It means the 28-year-old will leave Old Trafford without much noise - not that Neville understands the outcry.
He tweeted: "I don’t get the Lingard fuss at all. I saw far better players than him not get a perfect send off. He wants to leave, he wanted a free transfer. He’s got it. Move on."
It comes as Lingard's brother, Louie Scott, took aim at the club for failing to acknowledge the contributions of their player, who has come through the youth system. Lingard has scored the winner in the FA Cup final previously, one of his 35 United goals, and the club were slammed as "classless".
Louie posted on his Instagram story: “20 years of blood sweat and tears, 4 domestic trophies, 3 cup final goals, not even a farewell. No wonder it’s Conference League next year.” He also added: “Attacking players for celebrations when the clubs being sold to the super league ok. Class of 92, Busby Babes, you’re ran by people who don’t even know the offside trap. Classless and the fans need to realise. Goodnight, godbless!"
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Rangnick has address such claims, citing Lingard's increased minutes in recent weeks and justifying why he opted to make certain changes against the Bees. He said: "To start with, in the last couple of weeks under my tenure he has played far more games than he used to.
"Number two, on game day against Chelsea, he asked me to release him from the game and training the following day for personal family reasons. This was the reason with only three substitutes I had to take a decision between Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard, or the young Alejandro Garnacho, who I would have loved to have brought on and given a chance to play.
"I took the decision to bring on Edinson. Had I not brought him on, someone might have asked if it's classless not to bring on Cavani or Garnacho. After two substitutes, you have to take a decision and this will not be to the liking of everybody. This is part of the game."
