The official statement of FC Seoul regarding Jesse Lingard, the former Manchester United superstar and England international, was that Lingard would not continue in the South Korean club after their recent Asian Champions League Elite victory over Melbourne City. The confirmation was announced by the club on Friday following a series of speculations as to whether Lingard would continue with Seoul.
Lingard, 32, signed a two-year deal with an option of a third year at FC Seoul after spending one year at Nottingham Forest at the beginning of 2024. Nevertheless, the midfielder has chosen to seek new experiences abroad, and the club is compelled to give him his will although efforts were made to keep him.
FC Seoul, in a press release, indicated the outstanding contribution of Lingard in the team. We strongly persuaded Lingard to stay with us a little longer, but in the end we yielded to his request. He has been more than an ordinary foreign player since the last two seasons as he has been the captain of our team, and has proved to be very committed to the club through his performance.
Lingard played 66 games in total in his tenure in his career in every competition and scored 18 goals. His first season was especially remarkable since he took the team to the fourth place in K-League which won them a place in the Asian champions league Elite.
FC Seoul are already ranked fourth in the ACL Elite Eastern League Phase table, hoping to do better than their 6 th place result in 2025. The club also posted a farewell message on Instagram, where Lingard was thanked because of his leadership and dedication to the club.
The departure of Lingard creates a huge vacuum in the midfield of FC Seoul in terms of talent and leadership. All the fans and the analysts are eager to know where this prodigy of midfield is going to proceed with his career and many are speculating whether he is going back to the European football or some other prolific Asian league.
