Jesse Lingard stays delighted along with his swap to South Korea, regardless of a tricky begin on the soccer pitch and a hefty lower in his wages.
The ex-Manchester United made waves when he inked a two-year cope with FC Seoul in February. The attacking midfielder, 31, mentioned he attracted curiosity from 26 golf equipment worldwide however settled for the crew within the South Korean capital.
Despite a poor begin, Lingard has saved his hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers cheery, sharing snaps of himself in a Korean barbecue restaurant with the caption “The boy is happy”. His return to aggressive soccer started final weekend within the Okay League, the place he appeared for the primary time since April 2023, when he took to the sphere for Nottingham Forest towards his previous membership, Man United.
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Unfortunately, his debut did not fairly go to plan, with Seoul dropping 2-0 to Gwangju and Lingard choosing up a yellow card throughout his 13-minute stint on the pitch. Despite these hiccups, Lingard continues to show his positivity on Instagram: “Blessed and grateful to be back on the pitch doing what I love best.”
Lingard is now incomes a cool £17,500 every week in South Korea, which is considerably lower than the whopping £180,000 he used to get each week at Nottingham Forest and the £100,000 he bagged at Manchester United, studies the Mirror.
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(Image: Jon Hobley/Getty Images)
That may not look like lots, however he is nonetheless raking in about £910,000 a 12 months along with his new aspect. He additionally has different enterprise pursuits which preserve the cash flowing in, together with a jerk rooster restaurant chain and his personal trend label.
Lingard is to date loving life in South Korea. He spoke glowingly about his new membership upon signing, saying: “I’m really excited, it’s a new challenge but I’ve accepted it. I’m here, I’m ready to embrace the culture. It’s a new beginning for me, a new chapter in my career. I just want to enjoy playing football again and putting a smile on people’s faces and showing the Korean fans what I can do.”
(Image: STR/YONHAP/AFP through Getty Images)
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He additionally shared how FC Seoul went the additional mile to signal him up: “When FC Seoul came into the equation, the commitment that they showed, they flew to Manchester to watch me train, I got put through some tests by the physios. They came with the contract on paper. There were multiple offers which were all verbal. The commitment shown by Seoul showed their interest and how much they wanted me and I wanted to repay that by going to the club.”
Lingard is ready to make his first residence debut this Sunday when Seoul tackle Incheon. He’ll be hoping that his less-than-stellar debut will not have an effect on his possibilities of beginning on the large 66,000-seat Seoul World Cup Stadium.