Lingard reveals bizarre Man Utd rule enforced by Rooney to stop ‘flashy’ footballers

Former Manchester United winger Jesse Lingard claims club legend Wayne Rooney implemented a strict rule in the dressing room.

Lingard and Rooney played together at Man Utd as the former became a first-team regular during the 2015/16 campaign.

The 32-year-old winger made 232 appearances for boyhood club Man Utd before leaving upon the expiry of his contract in 2022.

The former England international scored nine goals in 16 Premier League appearances during his sensational loan spell at West Ham, but he did not capitalise on this stint.

Lingard decided against making his move permanent and returned to being a bit-part player for Man Utd before he had an unsuccessful year at Nottingham Forest. He was a free agent for the first six months of this season before he penned a two-year deal with FC Seoul.

In a new interview, he has responded to suggestions that he and other former players have ‘destroyed the culture’ at Man Utd and revealed a rule implemented by Rooney.

“I don’t even really go on [social media] anymore but I did see that and just asked the guy to explain it,” Lingard told The Daily Mail.

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‘We actually got some nice responses from other people. I love Paul to bits. He’s one of my best friends. We speak every day.

“But I was thinking, ‘What was the culture, anyway?’.

“With us being in the first team, you know, it’s obviously knowing the right place, the right time to do things and stuff like that.

“But ruining culture? We only tried to make it stronger. We responded to success and we smiled and laughed and we were winning games. So that is good culture, yeah?

He continued: “Wayne Rooney told me: ‘Don’t buy your first car until you’ve played 50 games.’ Obviously 50 games came and I drove in a Range Rover, parked up and Rooney is like: ‘Whose is that? Have you played 50 games now?’.

“And that was me accepted. I have never tried to be flash. Of course, if you have nice things sometimes you wanna show them. But the photographers would follow me and take pictures of me in my car every time we drove in.”

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Lingard has also refuted suggestions that he is a “failure” as he feels his career has been an “achievement”

“I 100 per cent do not feel failure, I feel achievement,” Lingard added.

“You just gotta look at my story from seven years old, a kid from Warrington making it all the way through. The percentages of that are like 0.2 per cent or something. I got chosen.

“You have to work hard. Go to digs and leave your family at 12 years old and move schools and be in a different environment.

“And I was the smallest. I was tiny. Sometimes I had to play down a year. So I’ve been through the mill, from a football point of view.”