The myth of the “young” Jesse Lingard

Jesse Lingard is a lot of things.

He has brilliant movement, he's obviously sharp across the ground and he's unleashed a couple of screamers in his day too. He's a dancer, a showman, a social media influencer. He's inconsistent, a little brainless, his general ability on the ball is suspect. Jesse Lingard is a lot of things but Jesse Lingard is not young. Try telling that to the media though - this example comes from the Daily Mail but it's rife. The idea is that, because Lingard isn't actually that good, he's labelled young. It's a commentator's go-to word for average English players, so much so that 'young' has nearly become a synonym for shit. You can't say shit on air though and you definitely can't say it about English players. This is a guy who's been in the United first team squad for six years now but it's taken him that long to break through that he's given a bye ball - an extra few more years of not really doing a whole pile. He's called young instead of people simply asking if he's good enough. He's called young when Harry Kane is leading a revolution at Spurs, at 23. When Neymar, 25, has been the best player in the world for the last year or two. Lingard isn't compared to proper standards and some people avoid that because they're an English player. He's 24 years of age, he's not some underdeveloped teenager. He'll be 25 by the end of the year. When was the last time Paul Pogba was called young? He's 24 too, four months younger than Lingard. When was the last time Philippe Coutinho was called young? He's 24 and has played 25 times for Brazil. Lingard, meanwhile, has notched four England caps and done bloody well to do that too. Nobody called Hazard young when he won the title for Chelsea and player of the year two years ago at 24. They'll still be calling Lingard young when he reaches 26 though. To put it into context even further, at the same age Jesse Lingard is now, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale were making moves to Real Madrid for world record transfer fees having already notched two player of the year awards - each - in the Premier League. It's not fair to compare Jesse Lingard to these men, but it's not fair to call him young either. At his age, people had done phenomenal things in football but some elements of the media will have us wait and wait for Lingard to develop and come good. Because, apparently, that development and that coming good just could not have been done by the tender age of 24.