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Sam Allardyce says midfielder made the biggest mistake of his career by not joining West Ham

Charles Jones

Wed 19 February 2025 11:45, UK

West Ham United have been a brilliant destination for players to improve their games in recent years.

Yes, things aren’t going well at the London Stadium right now, but in recent years, a number of players have enhanced their careers in east London.

Jarrod Bowen is an England international now, Declan Rice earned a £105m move to Arsenal after starring for West Ham, while Lucas Paqueta has been linked to Manchester City after some brilliant work for the Hammers.

Any player could do a lot worse than signing for West Ham in recent times. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t work out that way for some – for example, Jesse Lingard.

Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Sam Allardyce has been discussing Marcus Rashford and how he needs to rebuild his career away from Manchester United.

Big Sam compared Rashford to Jesse Lingard and his time at West Ham, claiming that the biggest mistake of Lingard’s career was not signing for the Hammers.

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The biggest mistake of Jesse Lingard’s career

Allardyce spoke about Lingard in comparison to Rashford.

The former England manager says that Lingard made a massive mistake not staying with West Ham, claiming that the midfielder should’ve made sure he got his move to the Hammers after his incredible loan spell.

“I think his biggest turning point of his career is what he does at Villa between now and the end of the season,” Allardyce said,

“Remember Jesse Lingard? The biggest mistake Jesse Lingard made was not staying with David Moyes at West Ham.

“He had a great opportunity.

“He should have made sure, I’m sure Moyes must have wanted him for what he did. You gave him another dimension, didn’t you? Yeah, whatever it cost at West Ham.”

Jesse Lingard stats after leaving West Ham

Allardyce is right, Lingard made a big mistake not staying at West Ham.

Indeed, Lingard enjoyed the best spell of his career at West Ham.

Lingard was described as ‘great’ during his time with the Hammers, but his career hit a serious slump after he left the Clarets.

Lingard would go back to Manchester United the next season where he wouldn’t play regularly and wouldn’t make an impact when he did play.

Meanwhile, after that summer, Lingard would join Nottingham Forest on a free transfer, and he failed to make any sort of impact at the City Ground either.

These days, Lingard is playing in South Korea and is one of English football’s forgotten stars, but maybe, just maybe, things would’ve turned out differently if he stayed with West Ham and David Moyes.