Jesse Lingard has defended his former Man Utd teammates Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba after a fan claimed the trio ‘destroyed’ the club
16:55, 12 Feb 2025
Jesse Lingard
Jesse Lingard hit back at a fan accusing him of 'destroying' Manchester United(Image: Getty Images)
Jesse Lingard has hit back at a fan who claimed he, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba ‘destroyed’ Manchester United.
Boyhood United fan Lingard progressed through the Red Devils’ youth academy, where he was a part of the 2011 FA Youth Cup-winning side alongside Pogba. After progressing into the first-team, Lingard’s rise was far from shooting to stardom, unlike Rashford.
Wythenshawe-born Rashford made his United first-team debut in 2015 when Lingard was establishing himself as a regular under Louis van Gaal.
The attacking midfielder was then reunited with Pogba, who returned to Old Trafford in 2016 in a £89million world-record deal after leaving Manchester to join Juventus on a free transfer four years earlier.
The trio became part of the core of United’s squad under Jose Mourinho, helping the club to the Europa League and League Cup in the Portuguese boss’ first season at Old Trafford before a second-place finish the following season.
Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford
Pogba, Lingard and Rashford enjoyed playing for Man Utd(Image: Manchester United via Getty Images)
During their time at the club together, the three were well known for their larger-than-life personality, with videos of dance moves in the dressing room or celebrations on the pitch.
However, they were Marmite figures among football fans as the prevalence of social media within the game reached new heights.
And as United struggled to compete for the top honours, Lingard and his teammates received criticism for their public expressions and were slammed for not taking their careers at United seriously.
Pogba, Rashford, Lingard
The trio were slammed by a fan for their antics at the club(Image: Visionhaus)
One user on X, reacted to a video of Lingard scoring against Newcastle and celebrating by dabbing, first writing: “This has been and overrated wasted talent.”
They later replied: “He destroyed the culture of the club!” Before adding: “Him, Pogba and Rashford destroyed the culture even Rooney admitted [it]."
Lingard, now 32 and playing for South Korean side FC Seoul, hit back at the fan, arguing: “Please explain how me Paul and Marcus destroyed Manchester United’s culture?”
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A fan in the comments section defended Lingard, saying: “You made us play well which some dumb b******* that 'support' this club don’t like because you dance and have fun..."
To which Lingard replied: “We was just enjoying our life for biggest club in the world of course we made mistakes and we learn but we gonna have fun and smile and dance!"
The 32-time England international also added: “Haha nah Korea lit bro I love it, I don’t even bite ever I never really read comments but had to reply to that shambolic accusation!"