Jesse Lingard: Former Manchester United forward joins Brazil side Corinthians on a free transfer
Jesse Lingard left Manchester United to join Nottingham Forest after a previous successful loan spell at West Ham; The 32-year-old midfielder pens a short term deal at Corinthians with the option to extend it for a further year; Lingard links up with former Man Utd team-mate Memphis Depay
Friday 6 March 2026 17:21, UK
Former Manchester United forward Jesse Lingard has ended a two-month wait for a new club by joining Brazil Serie A side Corinthians on a free transfer.
The 32-year-old left FC Seoul in January and has signed a contract until the end of 2026 with an option for an extra year.
Lingard left England to join the South Korean club in 2024 after an underwhelming spell at Nottingham Forest. At the Midlands club, Lingard made 17 Premier League appearances without scoring a single goal, in an injury-troubled spell.
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Prior to that, Lingard had spent a successful spell on loan at West Ham in 2021, where he scored nine and assisted five in 16 appearances in east London.
Those performances saw him end a two-year absence from the England national team frame at the time, just missing out on a place at the Euros that summer.
His decision to join Forest, rather than sign for West Ham permanently after leaving his boyhood United in 2022, raised eyebrows.
However, in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News in January, Lingard revealed his preference at the time was to join West Ham.
"I went there on loan, did well, makes sense to go back, but a lot of things in the background persuaded me to go to Forest. But still, my mind was always set on West Ham. Everything happens for a reason. My mind was always to go West Ham.
"It was just written in the stars to be there. They offered me a good three-year deal at a time. Of course, you take the three-year deal over the one-year deal."
At Corinthians, Lingard now links up with former Old Trafford team-mate Memphis Depay, where the Netherlands' all-time top goalscorer has spent the last two years.
