Jesse Lingard has already hinted at his next transfer move as ex-Man United ace leaves Nottingham Forest

Manchester United have an FA Cup final this weekend. The last time they won the competition Jesse Lingard scored the winner.

Seven years on, he’s without a club having been released by Nottingham Forest. He managed just 12 Premier League starts for Steve Cooper’s side.

Lingard, at 30, is now a free agent. Having fallen out of favour at Manchester United, he shone for West Ham during a loan spell in 2021 but hasn’t hit those heights since.

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The midfielder has always had a keen eye on off-the-pitch opportunities and now might be the time to marry those ambitions with an on-pitch move. The United States would seemingly fit the bill for someone with eyes on acting while retaining business interests in gaming, fashion and media. Might Los Angeles and Hollywood be calling? The 32-cap England international has certainly hinted at taking that route in the past.

“After football I want to get into acting,” Lingard said, speaking to the Diary of a CEO podcast in January. “I always want to know what the next thing to do is, what’s the next investment, what can I be involved in, what can I do?

“I’ve got an ESports team, I love gaming, I’ve got my own brand, I love fashion, I’ve got a media company called One Touch Entertainment. I just want to be happy and do things I want to do to make me happy.

“The investment and business side of things, of course I want to set things up for my little sister and little brother, for my daughter when she grows up, things they can go into straight away. The media company is based in LA and that’s where eventually I want to finish football. Finish in America? Yeah, I think so.”