Jesse Lingard would have made an excellent January perfect for Newcastle

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Newcastle United tried desperately to sign Jesse Lingard in January. But alas, he is being forced to stay at Manchester United.

The Magpies were involved in a few transfer sagas last month, but the Lingard one was arguably the most frustrating.

He wanted to join Newcastle for the rest of the season, while the new Toon owners were incredibly keen to bring him to St James’ Park.

But on multiple occasions, he was denied a move to St James’ Park. A fee couldn’t be agreed between the two clubs, with Man United simply wanting too much for a player whose contract expires in the summer.

Lingard has been with the Red Devils since he was seven – to deny him a move 22 years later seems disrespectful.

Ralf Rangnick was happy for him to leave, but the Man United hierarchy have decided to keep Lingard at Old Trafford.

It’s a huge blow for the midfielder, and massively disappointing for Newcastle as well.

Hopefully not signing Jesse Lingard doesn’t come back to bite Newcastle

Newcastle signed five players in January, bringing in Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood, Bruno Guimaraes, Matt Targett and Dan Burn.

We’ve made some smart signings, and improved key areas all over the pitch. We’ve also added Premier League experience, which was vital.

It’s been a frustrating but excellent month for Newcastle, even if key targets such as Sven Botman and Diego Carlos didn’t arrive. Sadly, we were priced out of those moves. But, encouragingly, they did want to join us.

A move for Lingard on deadline day was hugely exciting, but ended in disappointment.

Despite the business we’ve done, signing Lingard would have taken it from an excellent window to a perfect window.

We still seem slightly light in attack, and he would have brought goals to a team that massively misses Callum Wilson.

Lingard would have been a signing on the same level as Trippier, and could have guaranteed survival on his own if he played like he did at West Ham last season. David Moyes described his loan spell as ‘incredible’, and he could’ve been just as good under Eddie Howe.

But sadly, he’s been denied the chance to play for the Magpies. Instead, he’ll be forced to warm the Manchester United bench until his contract expires.

Newcastle have had a good January, but hopefully the Lingard disappointment doesn’t come back to haunt us at the end of the season.