West Ham's chances of securing Jesse Lingard on a permanent deal this summer could be boosted by the latest reports surrounding Jadon Sancho's future.
Lingard's international teammate Sancho is reportedly close to a move to Manchester United this summer with Borussia Dortmund ready to cash in on the 21-year-old according to the Manchester Evening News.
Sancho's expensive arrival, with a fee suggested in The Athletic to be £80 million with potentially £20m in add-ons, is sure to see the England international a first-choice player.
Lingard had already fallen well down Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's pecking order at Old Trafford and Sancho's arrival would almost certainly draw the final curtain on the midfielder's 21-year association with the club.
David Moyes has already made his stance clear on Lingard and Sancho's arrival could see the Hammers closer to sealing a deal for their loan star.
Speaking in May the West Ham manager said of Lingard's future: "I hope Jesse is here [next season].
"We would like to keep him but there is no guarantee, he is not our player. He has done an exceptional job for us on loan and we will see where we go from there."
"So yes. I would like to keep Jesse."
Lingard's move to West Ham in January came about after the 28-year-old decided he needed a fresh start to rejuvenate a career that was stagnating.
The attacking-midfielder chose the Hammers due to his personal connection with Moyes and the offer of regular first-team football.
"He [Moyes] has been really good, I knew him from my time at Man United and we had a conversation back then, me and my family with him about letting me go on loan to Birmingham [City] and obviously he let me go on loan there," Lingard told the BBC Football Daily podcast in April.
"West Ham was one of the later clubs to come in to get me on loan on deadline day and it was only right to repay the favour by coming and helping out here.
"Even when I came we had a couple of words and he said 'nothing is a given, nothing is guaranteed, you have to work hard to get in the team' and as soon as he said that it only drove me to work harder and made me hungrier to play. And when I did get my chance I was over the moon and full of smiles. It had been a long time and to get back on the grass playing football was amazing."
With Moyes true to his word and giving Lingard the opportunity he craved, and the manager close to signing a new three-year deal at the Hammers, Lingard could potentially be linking up with the Scot once more.
A Manchester United move for Jadon Sancho can only help West Ham in their quest to bring in one of the stars of their phenomenal second half of the season.
