Less than 12 months after being released by Manchester United, Jesse Lingard once again finds himself at a career crossroads.
The 30-year-old raised eyebrows after he plumped for a move to newly promoted Nottingham Forest last summer instead of West Ham : the same club with whom he enjoyed an electric loan stint during the 2020/21 campaign.
Lingard's decision to pen a lucrative one-year contract with Forest was viewed as a gamble at the time - and unfortunately, it's not paid off.
The capture of the former England international was viewed as a huge coup for Nottingham Forest, who returned to the top-flight for the first time in over 20 years.
Their sole aim was survival and Lingard, who was regarded as the club's marquee signing after becoming their highest earner, was the man to keep them up. In the end, Steve Cooper 's side stayed up in spite of Lingard, rather than because of him: the winger managed just 17 appearances and failed to register a single goal contribution in the Premier League.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing; it's impossible to say whether or not things would have turned out differently for Lingard had he returned to West Ham, where he plundered nine goals in 16 league appearances.
With his stock at an all-time high, a permanent move failed to materialise and Lingard attempted to force his way into Manchester United's first-team plans, albeit to no avail.
Naturally, a fresh start seemed like the way forward for a player who appeared to have the world at his feet back in 2018 following a standout campaign under Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.
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But after Lingard's latest setback, it's hard to see how - or where - the winger will be able to rebuild his stock, which is now significantly lower than it was 12 months ago.
Speaking back in January, Cooper stressed that he would be open to keeping Lingard beyond the end of the season. He said: “We’re really enjoying working with him [Lingard]. How long it will be for – the longer the better, for me. But we don’t know.
“At some stage we’re going to have to have the discussion with him. But the fact he says he’s happy and content pleases me, because that’s always what I want for a player – for their self-worth to be high, because that’s when you get the best out of them. And if we get the best out of Jesse, then we’ve got a good player.”
Obviously, the club no longer felt that was the case; Lingard played just 86 minutes of football after those comments as the likes of Brennan Johnson and Morgan Gibbs-White stepped up to fire Forest to safety.
After finding himself on the periphery of Nottingham Forest's survival bid, Lingard is now back to square one.
You certainly wouldn't bank on him crossing swords with his former club in the top-flight next term, either, in the wake of his fall from grace.
The opportunity for Lingard to rebuild his career away from the spotlight of the Premier League may not necessarily be a bad thing. He is likely to attract interest from abroad, just like last summer.
After leaving Manchester United a year ago, there was an air of inevitability about Lingard returning to the top-flight. Just 12 months on, though, a future at an elite level no longer feels like the foregone conclusion it once was.
