Dimitar Berbatov tells Man Utd star to leave after rare appearance against Watford

Dimitar Berbatov has urged Jesse Lingard to leave Manchester United because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has lost faith in him.

Lingard came out from the cold for a rare start as United laboured to a 1-0 FA Cup victory over Watford at Old Trafford.

The 28-year-old struggled to make a profound impact against the Championship opposition on only his second start of the season.

Former United striker Berbatov believes the writing is on the wall for Lingard at his boyhood club and the midfielder should move on for the sake of his own career.

“Honestly, his time is up,” Berbatov told Stadium Astro, as quoted by the MEN.

“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, 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.”

Lingard’s inclusion in the victory over Watford was an indication of Solskjaer’s requirement to rotate rather than any improvement in his own game.

United needed to rest key attackers Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes ahead of a decisive week with Premier League games against Burnley and Liverpool.

The Reds can go into the blockbuster clash against Liverpool at Anfield at the top of the league table if they avoid defeat at Turf Moor on Tuesday.

It appears beneficial for all that parties that Lingard seeks out a new club as he aims to find the form that made him an England regular three years ago.

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