SAF famously decided that David Beckham, an absolute legend and one of the clubs best players, didn’t have his head in the right place and was becoming distracted by off the field antics.
I was listening to Crouch on his podcast earlier and he was saying how, on England duty, Lampard, Beckham and Rooney stayed out, rain or shine, to do extra training and practice after sessions were over.
I know times have changed in football, but at 27 years old, this should be the stories we are hearing about our senior pros at a club as big as United.
Beckham was 100 times the player Lingard is, but his head wasn’t where the manager demanded and he had to go. He was a consummate pro, but he was distracted enough that it was deemed unworkable.
Lingard, at this stage, is a terrible example for the younger players. He isn’t improving as a footballer, he is declining. He is posting stupid videos and worrying about fashion when he should be out in the rain showing the youngsters how it is done.
Inflated wages have many downsides but the biggest one is that players like him believe they are much better than they are. Time to undo that damage and get him out, so he can’t inflict anymore.