West Ham United give Jesse Lingard time to earn deal

West Ham boss David Moyes has given Jesse Lingard another week to earn a short-term contract.

Lingard, who enjoyed a successful loan spell with the Hammers in 2021, is training with the club following his release by Nottingham Forest.

The 30-year-old snubbed a return to West Ham last summer in favour of Forest after leaving Manchester United, but he could yet be back in claret and blue as Moyes attempts to beef up his squad.

“We’ve not even considered a deal at the moment,” said Moyes.

“He’s in training to see if we can get him back fit and get him in decent condition.

“He’ll be back here next week as well. There’s no news on that as far as short-term deals or anything else.

“Jesse’s a good player, probably needing to get himself in the correct condition. We’re working on him, all players tend to need four or five weeks pre-season and Jesse’s no different from anybody else.”

Moyes is set to hand James Ward-Prowse an immediate debut against Chelsea on Sunday following his £30million switch from Southampton.

But Edson Alvarez, the £35million signing from Ajax, will probably only make the bench having missed out on pre-season.

“Alvarez is only just back,” added Moyes. “We got him in the middle of last week when he started training. He had no training for three weeks.

“It wasn’t as if he was back at Ajax, whereas James Ward-Prowse has been back training all the way through with Southampton and played games already. He is much more ready.”