Is Lingard what the Hammers need?

There's a lot of paper talk about West Ham signing Jesse Lingard. He'd be a strange signing when what the squad needs is a second striker, but presumably he'd take the place of Lanzini and be a decent player to bring off the bench. If he's a loan deal then it's relatively risk-free although West Ham would have to buy outright one of Benrahma and Dawson to free up a loan deal — and that would be no bad thing. 

Moyes knows Lingard from his time at Old Trafford, but the fear is that when players leave United they are usually on the way down. There seem to have been mitigating circumstances for Lingard's collapse in form, his mother was suffering from depression and he was left to look after his two younger siblings. He's also become a dad having had a child with a fitness model, as footballers are wont to do. So quite a lot has been going on with his private life. 

Perhaps Moyes can help get his career back on track. Lingard has scored in an FA Cup Final and Europa League Final and has 23 England caps, so the potential is still there at 28.

Meanwhile the sacking of Frank Lampard at Chelsea is good news for West Ham. The Athletic claims that Frank was starting to annoy his bosses by requesting a move for Rice. They were reluctant to sanction an £80m move for a player they gave away from their academy. New boss Thomas Tuchel is unlikely to be so obsessed with getting one payer. 

It's been quite a week. Big Fat Frank has gone, West Ham have gone up to fourth and Jack Wilshere has scored for Bournemouth. Strange days indeed.