Lingard turned to alcohol at Man Utd to "take the pain away"

Winger Jesse Lingard is happy at Nottingham Forest. He joined his new club in July 2022 and has since made 16 appearances, 13 starts, scoring two goals and providing two assists.

The former United player, in a chat with 'The Diary of a CEO' podcast, revealed just how bad he had it at Old Trafford. So much so that he turned to drinking to "take the pain away".

"I needed something to try to take the pain away. I was drinking before bed, I had a drink.... It put me at ease somehow," Lingard confessed.

But the footballer acknowledged that the method, far from helping him, only hurt him more. "I look back now and I think: 'What was I doing that for?' I was trying to forget what I was going through, but I was making it ten times worse," he said.

Lingard felt he was the victim of "abuse" from the fans at one point, but former Red Devils boss Solskjaer helped him: "I didn't want to be on the pitch, I didn't want to play.... I didn't want to quit football either, I would never have quit, but I needed a break. I felt like the world was on my shoulders.”

His mother also suffered from depression at the time and that took its toll. Once again, it was Solskjaer who helped him: "Ole asked me how my mother was doing. That helped to let people know what I was going through," he said.