Football News: Jesse Lingard to Nottingham Forest on Free transfer at a club record £200,000 a week salary

After his contract with Manchester United's Old Trafford team expired last month, Lingard, a graduate of their system, concluded his 22-year affiliation with the team.

Forest and Lingard have reached an agreement on an initial one-year contract earning close to £200,000 per week. Forest is eager to show its ambition after winning a promotion to the Premier League.

The 29-year-old midfielder has already completed a physical and will go to Germany on Friday with Steve Cooper's team in preparation for a preseason friendly against Union Berlin on Saturday. At Forest, he'll don the No. 10 jersey.

Although clubs in the UK and abroad expressed interest in Lingard, who went through the Manchester United junior system and made 232 professional games, he preferred to stay in the Premier League.

After a successful loan stays in the second half of the 2020–21 campaign, West Ham United and Everton have started talking about bringing the England international back to East London.

However, Nottingham Forest took first place, giving them a boost as they continued their busy summer in the transfer market after being promoted to the top flight.

Why have Nottingham Forest Jesse Lingard?

One question was asked of Steve Cooper's team from the moment the Championship play-off final at Wembley ended: would they be able to compete at the next level?

The answer won't be available until August 6, when the season begins with a trip to Newcastle United, a team with which Lingard has been closely associated. But despite that, this signing makes it plain to the rest of the division that we mean business.

This summer, Forest spent almost £70 million ($84 million) on new hires, including shattering their previous transfer record by bringing in striker Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin for £17 million.

To bring the total of new players to 10, Lewis O'Brien and Harry Toffolo joined in a $10 million combined deal from play-off final opponents Huddersfield.

But Forest has made their most significant statement of purpose so far with the signing of free agent Lingard.

Stuart Pearce, who last represented England while he was a member of Forest, did so in 1997. They now have Lingard and Dean Henderson, the goalkeeper on loan from Manchester United, who hopes to earn a return to the international team in the months ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.

Lingard faced fierce competition from Forest. He thrived on loan with West Ham during the second half of the 2020–21 season, scoring nine goals in 16 Premier League starts, producing the best football of his recent career. West Ham was eager to rejoin the player.

Nevertheless, Forest determined to convince Lingard that a move to the City Ground would be the best choice for him, despite the allure of playing in Europe with David Moyes' team.

While Lingard's wages will continue to be a significant expenditure, Forest believed that signing him would offer comparable value to spending a sizable transfer fee on players like Morgan Gibbs-White.

Although acquiring Lingard will not be inexpensive overall, if he can put together his most outstanding performance, the lack of a transfer fee might still make it a good deal.

He does possess the qualities to succeed, as his time at West Ham has shown.

In addition, Forest is still looking to acquire at least one more central midfielder, a striker, and Alex Moreno of Real Betis, who is now available because Omar Richards is out with a hairline fracture in his leg.

In addition to Dean Henderson joining on loan from Manchester United, Cooper's team has added Taiwo Awoniyi, Neco Williams, Moussa Niakhate, Guilian Biancone, Omar Richards, Lewis O'Brien, Harry Toffolo, Brandon Aguilera, and Wayne Hennessey.