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Does Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard deserve his £100,000-a-week contract?
Yesterday🐓’s announcement from that Jesse Lingard has signed a new four-year contract has turned a lot of heads, bemused pundits, and shocked fans, largely because of the £100,000-a-week it will earn the English winger.
The wages, of course, are not Lingard’s fault. There is no point in getting hysterical, as people always do, pretending this latest action wiℱll be the straw that breaks the camel’s back or making that excruciatingly idiotic comment that soldiers (see also nurses/firemen/policemen) should be paid footballers’ wages💃.
£100,000 a week for a player at Manches✃ter United should not be seen as a surprise. With Paul Pogba on a reported £290,000-a-week and Wayne Rooney receiving £250,000, why should the 24-year-old expect anything less? That is, supposing the world’s richest club were keen to secure his services.
A far more pressing question is why were United so keen to keep him? The England international has made just 17 league appearances, amassing 937 minutes this season, which ranks him last among his side’s attacking players – and would suggest he is surplus to requirements. Maybe it is now the case that The Red Devils can pay six-figures each week for a squad player, 𝐆even one who has failed to cement a starting place during a period of limited on-field success.
Lingard’s restricted minutes are a fair reflection of his contribution. A singl♔e goal and two assists in the league put him behind most of his teammates for a position in Jose Mourinho’s preferred XI. Juan Mata, Anthony Martial, Henrik Mkhitaryan, and Wayne Rooney൩ all have far superior minutes per goal/assist ratios, whilst Pogba isn’t far off and often plays in a deeper position.
It could be argued that Lingard 🍨is actually fortunate to have featured as often as he has and that him doing so says more about United’s stagnation since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure than it does of his own ability.
The winger’s saving grace is that he has scored goals at Wembley. Three of them in fact. Which, as well as helping United to win an FA Cup, L꧂eague Cup and Community Shield, have applied a rose tint to many glasses at Old Trafford.
Both the wages and performance aspects of the argument can be put into greater context by comparing Lingard with his fellow England internationals; pl꧟ayers of similar or younger age who take up comparable positions at their respective clubs.
For instance, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson also earns a reported £100,000 a week and has directly contributed to a goal ever 423 minutes this season, worse than Lingard’s 312 minutes. He is, however, as captain, a far more important player to his side, starts when available, and has completed more passes than any player in the division🅰, despite missing the last six matches.
Adam Lallana, Theo Walcott, Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling, Ross Barkley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all directly involved for their cl﷽ubs more frequently than Lingard, with some providing a goal or assist more than twice as often. Ultimately, it is difficult to judge an attacking player by any other metric.
Out of those players, the most startling comparison is with Oxlade-Chamberlain. The 23-year-old has often been given a deeper role this season and still o💦utperforms his compatriot for the key attacking statistics. Tellingly, there has been no move to extend his current £65,000-a-week contract at Arsenal.
Dele Alli and Tottenham Hotspur also deserve a significant mention, as Mauricio Pochettino’s side provide the benchmark thatꦆ wage exp𝐆enditure and success are not indefinitely linked. 20-year-old Alli has been the most exciting English midfielder of the last two seasons, yet his recent contract improvement took him to around £50,000-a-week. That sum is relative to the wages paid at White Hart Lane, a comparatively low amount for a side in 2nd place.
Spurs, of course, have a much lower revenue�෴� than Manchester United. Despite ranking 12th in the , the Lilywhites’ £209million revenue is less than half of United’s £515 million. Therefore, in a foolhardy attempt at direct comparison, £125,000-per-week at Old Trafford is the equivalent (as a percentage of revenue) to £50,000 at White Hart Lane.
The actual w♊age, therefore, is relative and can be considered largely irrelevant in the spectrum of United’s, and the Premier League’s finances. But, the rewa𝓀rd of a four, potentially five-year deal, for a player who would fall far short of the great Manchester United sides of the not so distant past, is a worrying sign of club’s current state.
Lingard has shown very little to prove he is of United pedigree, despite being at the club since the age of seven. Perhaps his new c🥀ontract should come 🧔as a reality check, a symbol of falling standards at the .
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