Jesse Lingard has had one of the wackier footballing careers – from Manchester United wunderkind to loans spells with Leicester, Birmingham, Brighton, Derby and West Ham, an ill-fated move to Nottingham Forest before two-ish years with South Korean club FC Seoul.
The 33-year-old is looking for new employers once more, last week’s chat suggesting he was bound for Remo in Brazil. TalkSPORT called upon South American football expert Tim Vickery to give his thoughts on the wisdom of this move.
“If you’re going to go there, it’s a hard slog. Remo are newly promoted and everyone expects them to go straight back down. Secondly, look at the map – almost every away game is a four-hour plane journey, Remo are right up in the north of Brazil, and Brazil is a vast country. There are easier ways to earn your money than signing for them.”
Remo’s home city of Belém is, though, a sacred place. Ish. “Belém is actually the Portuguese translation of Bethlehem. There was once a Brazilian player who went to play there, and he said, ‘I am so honoured to be playing in the very place where Jesus Christ was born’.” The poor lad is probably still looking for the manger.
READ MORE
Quote
“Franco protected Real Madrid. He was a fascist and a xenophobe. And now Real Madrid comes out with this?” – Portuguese journalist Joao Queiroz with a somewhat puzzling take on Madrid being aggrieved about Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni (allegedly) racially abusing Vinícius Júnior.
By the Numbers: 654
James Milner’s record number of Premier League appearances after he started for Brighton on Saturday. He made his debut 23-and-a-bit years ago. Some engine.
Word of Mouth
“I feel they may struggle at places like Crystal Palace, Leeds, and St James’ Park. The weather plays its part as well. So, I’d say eighth.” – Theo Walcott reckoning that Real Madrid would just about make the top 10 if they played in the Premier League.
“At Napoli, he had problems with Gattuso. At PSV, he had them too. He’s rude and arrogant, and that leads nowhere. That’s why many people don’t want him. It’s not worth having someone like that in the locker room.” – Bryan Lozano on San Diego FC’s troublesome Mexican winger ... his brother Hirving (aka Chucky).
“Back in the day, the kids cleaned our boots – but it was like a reward. ‘Oh my god, I am cleaning the boots of Ronaldo or Keane or Giggsy!’ If you do this today, the kids will call it slavery.” – Patrice Evra on young people today.
Don’t be Spursy
When he stood up to speak in the Swedish parliament last week, the Social Democratic Party’s Mikael Damberg came armed with an analogy that will have stung a touch in one half of north London.
“I think of Tottenham Hotspur, one of England’s most distinguished clubs. A rich club, with an enormous stadium. A dedicated and large supporter base. Everything to be considered a top team.
“Despite this, Tottenham find themselves in crisis. They are fighting at the bottom of the table, just a few points above the relegation zone. Not because they lack resources, (but) because they have squandered their opportunities.”
“The club has been given the name, ‘Spursy’ – when you have opportunities but get no results. Madame Speaker, that is precisely how the Minister of Finance is handling the Swedish economy. The government risks making Sweden ‘Spursy’. That won’t do. Sweden cannot perform like Tottenham.” Cruel.
More Word of Mouth
“Came to Istanbul, they told us ‘welcome to hell’, I said feck ... it was feeling like heaven though.” – Nottingham Forest’s Ola Aina sounding a little like Fr Jack after his side’s 3-0 Europa League win away to Fenerbahce.
“When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusébio] was black. The last thing that this club is is racist.” – José Mourinho on telling Vinícius Júnior that some of Benfica’s best friends are black.
“Now we have three days off. I say to them, ‘what you have to do is take a lot of caipirinhas and daiquiris in these next three days, enjoy life’.” – Pep Guardiola encouraging his players to go on the lash after their win over Newcastle.
