Jesse Lingard has revealed that West Ham tried to 'rush' transfer negotiations and that contributed to his decision to join Nottingham Forest from Manchester United in the summer.
The attacker signed a one-year contract with the Reds after his deal with Man United expired last year. The move came as a surprise as the 30-year-old had been linked with Newcastle United and a return to the Hammers, with whom he enjoyed a successful loan spell in 2021.
In a wide-ranging interview Lingard claims that West Ham tried to rush through a deal, setting him a tight deadline, whereas the player wanted to talk things through. Forest, on the other hand, "did everything in their power" to sign him and make him feel loved in order to get a deal done.
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"I think they showed the love," he told the Diary of a CEO podcast. "They showed the willingness and the hunger to sign me. They were going to fly me here, there and everywhere to get the deal over the line.
"Negotiations broke down at West Ham, which I can't get into too much. Nottingham showed the love a lot more than West Ham.
"When you think about it, I'd been at West Ham before anyway, you can see what I can do and what I've done, so you expect them to be like 'we'll show you the love, here's the contract, blah blah, let's negotiate, let's talk'. It wasn't like that for some reason.
"They wanted me to sign but it was kind of rushed. It'd be Wednesday and they'd be like 'sign by Friday'. Let's talk, you know me. I've been there, helped your team, got to the Europa League.
"But Forest were like 'we love you, we want you, the manager will come to your house, the owner wants to fly you to Greece to do the deal'. They did everything in their power to get the deal over the line."
Lingard also opened up on the emotional nature of his exit from Man United, a club he joined when he was just eight years of age. His final day at the club left him in tears.
"For me it was a new challenge, a different challenge," he said. "I'd been United all my life. I remember the last day at United ... I got in the car and I just started crying. Bawling crying all the way home. I couldn't contain my emotions. It lasted a long time, I'd been there all my life, I knew everyone in the club. That's been my life."
The Forest midfielder, who is currently sidelined with an injury he picked up against his former club at Old Trafford last month, also delivered a parting shot at the Red Devils, admitting that he was left disappointed by the club.
"I didn't really get a send off, I'd been there that long you deserve one," he said.
He added: "People are probably like 'oh he's happy to leave', but I needed to leave. I wasn't playing. I got offered a contract but what's the point? I'm not going to play so... Yeah, it's the biggest club in the world, but happiness is more important for me. I needed to be happy and go somewhere I'm loved."
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