West Ham's chances of signing Jesse Lingard on a permanent basis appear to be decreasing by the week...

What's the word?

The ever-reliable ExWHUemployee revealed a gutting update over the situation during the latest episode of 'The West Ham Way' podcast, where he said:

"I think I would maybe say, [a] 30% [chance] he will come to West Ham. It is my opinion and I’m not ruling anything out.

"I would have said a lot higher a couple of weeks ago, 85/90%.

"It’s just based upon a conversation I had the other day with someone that would know him well and it indicated to me that he was more keen to get back to Manchester United and establish himself there than to move and be good at West Ham. But I guess time will tell."

Chances decreasing

This is just another setback in the Irons' bid to bring the 28-year-old back to the London Stadium this summer following a very successful half-season loan spell.

Indeed, the Manchester United outcast emerged as a star man under David Moyes, scoring nine goals and providing five assists. His form saw him graded as West Ham's second-best player (7.22), as per WhoScored ratings, whilst no player averaged more shots per game (2.6) and he wasn't far behind for dribbles (1.1) and key passes (1.1) per match either.

The Scotsman reiterated his desire to keep hold of Lingard following their final-day win over Southampton, three points which sealed their place in the Europa League next term.

"I hope Jesse’s here, we’d like to keep him, he’s done an exceptional job for us but there’s no guarantees, he’s not our player," Moyes told reporters, via the Evening Standard. "But I hope Jesse realises we’ve been good for him as well, and that he joined a club on the up."

Lingard has struggled for regular game time in recent seasons, something that the Hammers have been able to give him, almost leading to a spot in Gareth Southgate's Euro 2020 squad, so it seems baffling to stay at Old Trafford to sit behind the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Donny van de Beek.

This latest claim will also be devastating for much of the East London faithful, many of whom appear to have been just as eager to see the £20m-rated dynamo back at the club.

Lingard's reported desire to stay at United will certainly not go down well at West Ham.

AND in other news, Moyes risks West Ham disaster over shocking Lingard alternative who was a "liability" in 2020/21...