Thursday, 26th June, 2014
Paul Scholes believes that Manchester United should have given youngster Jesse Lingard the chance to challenge Shinji Kagawa for minutes on the pitch last season.
Kagawa endured a lacklustre campaign and struggled to impress then-Manchester United manager David Moyes. However, the Japan star remained at Old Trafford throughout, while Lingard was sent out on loan stints with Birmingham City and Brighton in the Championship.
And Scholes has pointed to the youngster's fate while explaining the England team need players such as Lingard to receive an opportunity to push fringe foreign players such as Kagawa.
"Simply, the Premier League is riddled with average foreign players. This is having such a detrimental effect on the first-team opportunities for young English talent, and our international results", he wrote on his Paddy Power blog.
"Let’s take the example of Jesse Lingard. He’s a 21-year-old, Warrington-born Manchester United player who was farmed out on loan to Brighton.
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"Last season at United, Lingard went on the pre-season tour, scored goals, and looked really sharp. At that time he was a better prospect, in my mind, than Adnan Januzaj, but he didn’t get the chance.
"I’m not questioning the talent of Januzaj, but Lingard, if given the opportunity, could have done well in the first team. With his ability, Lingard deserved to challenge Shinji Kagawa for a place."
Lingard scored nine goals in 28 Championship appearances last season.
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