Jesse Lingard attended a charity football game in Manchester after being omitted from the Manchester United matchday squad for their final day defeat against Crystal Palace. With incoming manager Erik ten Hag watching from the stands, there were several notable absentees in South London.
Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo was unable to play due to an injury, while Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford also missed out for the same reason. However, that explanation was not the case for Lingard and fellow academy graduate Dean Henderson.
In their absence, Hannibal Mejbri was handed a first senior start as Ralf Rangnick named several young players such as Alvaro Fernandez, Charlie Savage and Alejandro Garnacho on the bench. On the field, it was former United winger Wilfried Zaha who settled the scores to leave Ten Hag with even more to ponder before his summer rebuild.
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Amid long-standing interest from Saudi-backed Newcastle and West Ham - as well as other potential suitors from abroad - Lingard is gearing up to leave Old Trafford this summer when his contract expires. Despite being promised more opportunities this season, the 29-year-old has had limited game-time.
Denied a farewell of any description, the England international did not travel with the squad to south London, and so he took the opportunity to take in some action at a celebrity game being held in aid of charity at a local football club. Lingard was spotted - and posed for pictures - at Whalley Range AFC.
Featuring celebrities from TV shows Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, Lingard was there while his teammates were being put to the sword by Palace. In a series of posts that were uploaded to the Whalley Range AFC Instagram story, Lingard could be seen posing for pictures and taking in the action.
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