Jesse Lingard: ‘Mourinho was so chilled, he FaceTimed me from his hotel room’

Exclusive interview: The former Manchester United and West Ham star tells Miguel Delaney how life at FC Seoul in South Korea has revitalised his career. It is 10pm in a humid Hanoi, where FC Seoul have gone for warm-weather pre-season, and Jesse Lingard is talking about the need to get back into the Asian Champions League. “You want to play the Saudi teams,” he enthuses. It’s a different life, and a new lease of life. Lingard says he feels “lively and bubbly”, which is how teammates generally describe him. It’s just, recently, that hasn’t been a description that always fitted. Certainly not when he was in tears while driving away from Manchester United for the last time. Certainly not when he felt “stifled” by the rigours of the modern game.

It is an acutely relevant theme, amid constant discussion about an exhausting calendar. Lingard’s experience may become a more common story, as many more players talk of almost needing a six-month break from the elite level. He has now been in Korea for a year, a period he has found “amazing”. “I didn't know what to expect but seeing the love and appreciation really settled me down and got my confidence up,” Lingard tells The Independent.

Lingard is an admirable example of a player throwing himself into a different experience. He is enthused about living by the riverfront and the local cuisine. Lingard has been showing off some Korean on one of the country’s main talk shows and is an ambassador for North Face. That all comes from a status as “the K League’s most important ever signing”, with which he has driven FC Seoul back to the Champions League for the first time since 2019. He has since been named club captain, which represents quite a turnaround from an early period where coach Kim Gi-dong criticised his workrate.

Lingard was at that point still adapting from a period of six months without a club, but ultimately needed a knee operation. “After that, I finally settled in,” he says. “I started getting a couple of assists, a couple of goals, and your confidence goes up.”. That sharpness was crucial as Lingard has found the K League “intense and physical”. He has found the time off the pitch revitalising, as he’s constantly out exploring Seoul.

“When people ask for pictures, I always try. And, you know, when you finish your career, and you’re not getting the applause you’re used to, it can really hit you. I feel like just enjoying every moment.”. It’s a statement that stands out, especially alongside many moments when Lingard mentions “confidence”. There’s a natural question about his very relationship with elite football, especially given how far he has taken himself away from the sport’s centre of power.

Despite current perceptions, Lingard has a career most would envy. He has made himself part of football history by scoring the match winner in an FA Cup final, and that for his boyhood club, Manchester United. He was a fixture in England’s game-changing run to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals. Lingard later became one of the most sought-after players outside the elite after delivering West Ham United to survival in 2020-21… only for a sudden drop-off.

A spell at Nottingham Forest ended sourly, although Lingard primarily attributes his form there to injury. Many of modern football’s trappings began to exert a weight. Lingard, for his part, doesn’t bring up such rigours himself. He is nevertheless reflective when asked whether he just needed a break. “It’s intense. You’re constantly on schedule, away in hotels. It’s a very regimented sport,” he remarks.

“Look, I’d never take it for granted. I love playing football. But, anything that comes with that, you’ve got to be strong enough to deal with that.”. It’s why Lingard’s repeated use of the word “confidence” is conspicuous. His confidence had been sky-high after nine goals in 16 games on loan for West Ham, only for him to immediately return to Old Trafford and face old issues. Then 28 years old, he hadn’t featured in a single Premier League game under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2020-21.

“Being in the same environment for a long time… it kind of stifles you,” Lingard initially says. “In football, you’ve always got ups and downs. You’ve got to be mentally strong. And, you know, sometimes at United, I wasn’t. Things happen off the pitch that you can’t really control… it affects you on the pitch. “I spoke to Ole and a couple of staff members and they understood, because they’re human as well.

“It comes to a certain point where, when you’re not playing regularly, you’re not just going to sit there for the money.”. So, he went to Forest. “I was really dialled in and locked in at that time. The way I played, when you come back to your home club, you’re expecting to play. Obviously, that didn’t happen. You get frustrated. My application in training each day was always 100 per cent, you know… But, you come to a certain time where you need to leave.