Tottenham Hotspur surely regret not bringing Jesse Lingard to north London this January...

What was the word?

Having been linked to the 28-year-old in the summer, Spurs appeared to reignite their interest at the turn of the year - according to talkSPORT, they were one of the teams queuing up to secure him on loan.

"West Ham, Tottenham, and Sheffield United have all expressed an interest," said Alex Crook on the 'White and Jordan' show.

Lingard would go onto join David Moyes at the London Stadium and now the Lilywhites are paying the price.

Levy regret?

No one could've predicted it, but the Manchester United outcast has emerged from the shadows to steer the Irons on course for European qualification.

In Monday's entertaining win over Wolves, Lingard scored his sixth goal in eight appearances, whilst he has also provided four assists. That's 1.25 goal contributions per outing this term, via Transfermarkt.

He's even gotten back into the England squad under Gareth Southgate after an 18-month absence - something Dele Alli will need to take inspiration from. Lingard earned his 27th cap in the win over Poland.

It could have been very different had he joined Spurs, though, as they're far too reliant on the exploits of Harry Kane, who has directly contributed towards 62.7% of their Premier League goals.

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And Heung-min Son's recent form - just three goals scored since early January - is cause for concern. Not to mention their void in the no.10 role since the departure of Christian Eriksen, and no winger truly standing out from Gareth Bale, Erik Lamela and Steven Bergwijn.

Lingard could've played a big part under his former Red Devils boss.

It's left many Spurs fans feeling a sense of sheer regret, and indeed, many are less than impressed that he's ripping it up for their local rivals.

"How I wish Spurs had gone in for Lingard," expressed one supporter on Twitter, whilst another claimed he would do better for them than Giovani Lo Celso or Erik Lamela.

Similarly, a further member of the Hotspur faithful believes Kane would've hit 20 assists for the season already if they had Lingard on the counter-attack. Other shouts included getting him in to replace Dele Alli in the summer, and that he was also better than Bruno Fernandes.

Well, Levy ought to be as gutted as these fans as if Lingard was able to hit a similar feat for Spurs, then their attacking fortunes would be vastly different.

Lingard's form has been so good that Gary Neville has even suggested that United may want him back in the summer to Sky Sports, also adding: "He does an incredible amount of running. It's what he does. He's good out of possession and good in possession."

Whilst club and international teammate Declan Rice believes he's "one of the best players in the league right now in terms of form."

Spurs should definitely rue not signing Lingard now.

AND in other news, Spurs target £36m "goal threat" is everything Tanguy Ndombele should be...