In the past two seasons Jesse Lingard has got used to winning trophies and it seems that has transcended to not just playing football. Having played key roles in Manchester United’s footballing successes in the FA Cup, Community Shield, League Cup and Europa League – the midfielder also has a winning mindset when it comes to… table tennis. The 24-year-old took to Instagram on Tuesday to upload a video of himself playing in a table tennis tournament with Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay and Demetri Mitchell during their downtime on their preseason tour of America. In a round-robin style format, Lingard prevailed as the champion – defeating all three of his team-mates.
In one post, the midfielder dubbed himself ‘King Jlingz’ as he jokingly told McTominay to ‘get off the table’. In another post, Lingard showed off his footballing skills by flicking up a cap from the floor on to his head in one sweet swoop. The aforementioned quartet were also joined by David de Gea during their downtime break with the goalkeeper posing for picture with Rashford, which the latter captioned: ‘My bro.’ While McTominay, Rashford and Mitchell didn’t enjoy success off-the-pitch across the Atlantic, on it they have so far – with United winning both of their pre-season matches on tour to date. United’s next match is on Thursday night when they face ‘noisy neighbours’ Manchester City in Houston, Texas.
United will make the three-hour flight down from their Los Angeles base on Wednesday afternoon following a 10-hour stay in Salt Lake City that may have caused more harm than good. Romelu Lukaku scored his first goal in a United shirt during the 2-1 win, but an injury to Juan Mata and Antonio Valencia’s secondhalf sending-off meant that it was a far from perfect trip for Mourinho. The Portuguese is hoping to sign Inter Milan Man Utd star Jesse Lingard turns table tennis ‘champ’ in America winger Ivan Perisic this week, but the Croatian winger is currently on tour with his club in China and United are yet to meet the player’s £48million valuation. Speaking exclusively to ESPN in California, Mourinho admits he has experienced moments of frustration in the transfer window as he pursues further additions to centre-back Victor Lindelof and striker Lukaku.
‘We always want more,’ he said. ‘We always feel there is room to improve, and I cannot say that I am happy with our transfer window. What I can also say is that it is a difficult transfer window and I don’t blame anyone – it is just a reality of things. The market is going in such a direction that many players are difficult to get, not to say impossible. ‘Every club is powerful and they don’t want to sell or their demands are really high, so the market is difficult.’
