Jesse Lingard might be the one member of the Three Lions’ squad whose name most closely resembles the word ‘England’, but apparently that’s not enough for some people to get behind him.
The Manchester United winger has played just twice for the national team, in World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia, but has caught the eye of his former Under-21 mentor Gareth Southgate.
Lingard is one of a number of players recalled to the starting line-up as England follow their 3-0 victory over Scotland with a friendly meeting with Spain.
Nathaniel Clyne and Raheem Sterling have also come in, with Kyle Walker, Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge making way.
🚨 TEAM NEWS 🚨
Here's how our #ThreeLions will line up against @SeFutbol🇪🇸 this evening: pic.twitter.com/SwWNyrU53p
— England (@England) November 15, 2016
Now, we know Lingard wasn’t a universally popular choice when the squad was named, with some suggesting Ross Barkley or Nathan Redmond was more deserving of a place.
But the 24-year-old is a top-level professional footballer, not a competition winner, so some of the responses to his selection against La Roja seem a tad harsh.
lingard against Spain good banter lads
— Jamie (@JxmieLFC) November 15, 2016
lol lingard😂😂😂
— Rossi (@RMcCarthy98) November 15, 2016
Lingard hahahahahaha
— Sam (@ffsUnited) November 15, 2016
LINGARD LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLL
— . (@billymcfc_) November 15, 2016
And one word appeared more frequently than usual (actually that’s a lie, we always see it trotted out)
https://twitter.com/beautifulbraps/status/798598403596828672
Lingard 🙄 #fraud
— Matt Snape 🏴 (@MattSnape1993) November 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/adammclachlan_/status/798600130383355905
Still, at least if things do work out for the Manchester United man, we can rest easy in the knowledge that the completely unbiased Twitter user ‘JesseLingod’ knew it was going to happen.
https://twitter.com/JesseLingod/status/798598911669768192
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