Fuss over Man Utd send-off for Jesse Lingard shows why Ralf Rangnick owes him nothing…

Jesse Lingard is ‘dismayed’ at being denied an Old Trafford send-off. What was he expecting? Perhaps we should ponder why Ralf Rangnick decided Edinson Cavani was more deserving…

Goodnight, God bless, ta-ra.

In the absence of the send-off Jesse Lingard felt he deserved after over two decades at Manchester United, the departing forward’s brother took it upon himself to say a few words of farewell.

It’s not the first time that other people have spoken up or out of turn on Lingard’s behalf. A fortnight ago, it was Paul Scholes who revealed the details of what was presumably a private conversation in which Lingard spoke of the ‘disaster of a dressing room’ at Old Trafford.

Perhaps being overlooked on Monday night was Ralf Rangnick’s revenge for Lingard’s loose lips. The interim United boss has dropped plenty of hints in recent weeks about what he thinks about the dressing room Lingard described and the remaining games, with little to play for, give Rangnick the chance to get in a little retaliation for the resistance he’s met since replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

When it comes to Lingard, Rangnick is evidently not impressed by what the England international has to offer. Nor was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Rangnick was happy in January to let Lingard leave, as was Solskjaer a year before him, but the club – for reasons known only to the hierarchy at Old Trafford – denied the 29-year-old another opportunity to go out and play.

Jesse Lingard’s brother Louie Scott on Instagram last night pic.twitter.com/XoGTZrDpfK

— utdreport (@utdreport) May 3, 2022

There is no question that Lingard has been badly managed by the club, but the responsibility for that falls at the feet of the board rather than the manager. Solskjaer and Rangnick were