Ex-Birmingham City, West Ham, Brighton & Derby County star training with Steven Gerrard

Former Birmingham City midfielder Jesse Lingard is out in Saudi Arabia training with Al-Ettifaq FC as he bids to earn contract with them.

The 30-year-old is a free agent after his one-year contract at Nottingham Forest expired, leaving him as a free agent.

He is now bidding to become one of the many stars to earn a bumper pay-deal in the Middle East towards the end of their footballing careers.

Lingard, capped 32 times for England, began training with Ettifaq on Wednesday, and has been granted permission to practice with the team for a whole month, which should be enough time for Liverpool legend Gerrard to run the rule over him.

He had been training with his former club West Ham, of whom he had a loan at in the 2020/21 season, and had been in talks to rejoin the Hammers before he joined Forest but now looks set to snub David Moyes for a second time.

Asked if he was disappointed Lingard left for Saudi Arabia after training with his side, West Ham boss Moyes said: “No not at all. “I’m quite comfortable and more than relaxed with it.

“I think I’ve been indicating to you (the media) boys that we’re having to see what he’s going to do and how’s he going to be. We like Jesse a lot but I just don’t know if we need another player in the position he would probably play for us.”

Lingard had a short but successful loan spell at St Andrew's, and got six goals and three assists in the 2012/13 season. He was recalled and subsequently loaned out to Brighton & Hove Albion, where he got four goals and four assists in 17 games.

He had a loan spell at Derby County in the 2014/15 season and then became an established first-team player at Manchester United, winning the Europa League, FA Cup and EFL Cup. As for his statistics at Old Trafford, he got 35 goals and 21 assists in 232 games.