Jesse Lingard claims he turned Liverpool down as a youngster to join Manchester United

Jesse Lingard has struggled at Manchester United this season with no goals or assists.

The 26-year-old always seems to be on the cusp of doing something great and then falls a couple of steps back.

He also seems to have lost his starting place under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and hasn’t improved much since breaking into the side a few years ago.

Lingard has come through the ranks at Old Trafford, however, it could have been different for the Englishman.

The attacking midfielder was speaking on Manchester United’s official podcast and claimed he had the pick of clubs when growing up.

Lingard claimed that Liverpool were one of several clubs keen but he chose United (h/t Mirror):

“(Manchester) City, Liverpool, Everton and I think Crewe at the time (were interested) but I knew Man United was my home.

“I have a picture in a United kit when I was one year old. When I was seven I had trials and signed when I was nine.”

Were Liverpool lucky to miss out?

When Lingard was coming through the ranks at United there were high expectations from him.

However, the midfielder has lacked consistency since breaking into the team. Liverpool, currently, have an incredible team and there is no chance that Lingard would be able to feature under Jurgen Klopp.

Things could have been different had he come through our academy, but we really cannot complain much about the team.

Klopp has been fantastic for us and even some English youngsters have become first-team stars under him.

It will be interesting to see who the next youngster is that can break out from the academy and seal a place in Klopp’s team.

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Liverpool have several young talents coming through, and some of them have looked great in the Carabao Cup.