Dimitar Berbatov Tells Manchester United Player That His 'Time Is Up' At Old Trafford

Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov has insisted that Jesse Lingard must leave Old Trafford to salvage his playing career.

Lingard, 28, made only his third appearance of the campaign during United's 1-0 victory against Watford on Saturday at Old Trafford in the third round of the FA Cup.

The England international made his two other appearances in the League Cup as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hasn't used him in either the Premier League or Champions League.

Lingard has had his contract extension triggered in December and is now out of contract in 2022.

But the United player has attracted interest from Newcastle, with Berbatov saying that the move away from the Red Devils would provide him with more minutes.

When asked what Lingard should do, the 39-year-old Bulgarian told Stadium Astro: "Honestly, his time is up. He's not playing. He had his chances to shine, to prove how good he is, how good he can be. It shows that, for the moment, Ole does not trust him enough to play him.

"And, honestly, he doesn't have anywhere to play in the team right now.

"So, when you've been so long in one team and, coming to 28 [years old], you have to look back and say, 'Did I achieve enough? Am I happy with what I've done here? Is my time up?'

"So, I think he needs to move, he needs to go somewhere else to play.

"It's going to be a lesser team than United, but as long as he gets more playing time to get back to doing what he can do, because I remember him starting for England and scoring goals for England.

"But now that is all gone in my opinion and he needs to rediscover some of the form that he used to have before."

Former United striker Michael Owen, who saw Lingard break into the first team, echoed similar sentiments to Berbatov about the midfielder's fate at Old Trafford.

The 41-year-old pundit explained: "He came through the ranks when me and Berba were in the team, we saw his development, and he's got to a stage now where he's a bit older and should be playing regularly in a team now at his age.

"And he's been at Manchester United that whole time so he knows what it feels like to be a Manchester United player, now it's his life decision, his professional career decision: 'Do I want to stay as a bit-part player at one of the biggest teams in the world, or do I want to drop down, play regularly but not have as much chance of winning anything?' And that's the balancing act.

"If it was me, and I'd had all that time at Manchester United, I'd probably go and try to play a bit more regularly."

Featured Image Credit: Stadium Astro/PA

Topics: Football News, Football, Manchester United, Dimitar Berbatov, Premier League, Jesse Lingard

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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