Man Utd’s Jesse Lingard Insists His ‘Headspace Is Clear’ - Africaflavoursports

 Jesse Lingard has revealed his “headspace is clear” after Ralf Rangnick said the forward asked Manchester United to take some time off to “clear up his mind”.

United interim boss Rangnick revealed Jesse Lingard is unavailable for Friday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie against Middlesbrough as he takes a short break after the board blocked him from leaving in January amid interest from Newcastle and West Ham.

Rangnick said at a press conference on Thursday: “Jesse Lingard asked me and the club if he could have a couple of days off just to clear up his mind. He will be back in the group I suppose next Monday and part of the squad again.”

However, Jesse Lingard later took to Twitter to contradict his manager’s comments. He said: “The club advised me to have time off due to personal reasons!

“But my headspace is clear and I’ll always be professional when called upon and give 100 per cent.”

Rangnick revealed the situation regarding Mason Greenwood was partly behind the decision to keep Jesse Lingard for the rest of the campaign,

Greenwood, who was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of the rape and assault of a woman, has been released on bail pending further investigation and remains suspended by United.

“Three weeks ago Jesse didn’t want to leave,” Rangnick said. “Then he changed his mind.

“I had a chat with him some 10 days ago and I could fully understand why he wanted to leave to get game time for his future, also for the World Cup.

“I said to him at the time in case he finds a club where he would like to play for and also the club finds a solution with our club, I would let him go, I would allow him to leave.

“Obviously with all the developments we had in the last couple of days, things changed a little bit.

“On the other hand, we also had no agreement with any other club, so at one stage we had to take a final decision together with the board and we decided to rather keep Jesse until the end of the season.”

It is the second time in recent months a Manchester United player has offered a different version of events to Rangnick via social media.

Last month, Anthony Martial denied a claim from Rangnick that he refused to be part of the squad for a Premier League game at Aston Villa.