West Ham may end up handing Jesse Lingard a huge pay rise to sign him from Manchester United this summer, as revealed by Football Insider.

What's the latest news on Lingard?

Lingard spent the second half of the 2020/21 season on loan at the Hammers, but has since returned to Old Trafford. He has one year remaining on his contract with the Red Devils, but Lingard is reportedly keen on leaving the club in order to get regular playing time.

It has been claimed that he would be willing to sign for West Ham permanently, and the Irons have reportedly made it clear that they want to agree a full transfer for Lingard this summer.
In order to do that, however, it's alleged that they may need to make Lingard the club's new top earner.

Would Lingard become West Ham's top earner?

The 28-year-old currently earns £75,000-a-week at United, some way adrift of goalkeeper David de Gea, who receives £375,000-per-week.

His current salary would also only put him as West Ham's fourth-highest earner at the moment, behind Andriy Yarmolenko, Jarrod Bowen and Felipe Anderson, who has spent the past season on loan at Porto.

Yarmolenko is comfortably clear of Lingard right now on £115,000-a-week, but according to reports, this could change shortly.

Football Insider state that West Ham may have to make Lingard their top earner while also handing him a long-term deal if they want to bring the attacking midfielder back to east London.

What transfer fee would West Ham have to pay to land Lingard?

It was reported back in April that United would demand £30m in order to let Lingard leave this summer. The following month, this value dropped to £20m, according to The Sun. Either way, it appears that it will take a considerable fee to sign Lingard permanently ahead of next season.

If United do stick with the higher value of the two, West Ham would need to pay the third-highest transfer fee in their history to get their man.

Is Lingard worth it?

West Ham may need to make Lingard their highest paid player and one of their most expensive signings ever to get this deal over the line. They would be showing tremendous faith in the England international if they go through with it.

Still, Lingard may be worth it. 

He was outstanding in the final four months of this season, registering nine goals and five assists in 16 top-flight appearances as the side secured a Europa League spot.

He is also a player with a vast amount of experience, having played 149 Premier League matches in his career, and won 29 caps for his country.

With Lingard, West Ham would know what to expect from him as he has performed in England before, while the same could not be said of their two most lucrative signings of recent years.

The club splashed out almost £80m on Sebastien Haller and Felipe Anderson, two players who had never featured in the Premier League, and it did not work out as Haller was sold to Ajax just 18 months later, while Anderson has since been sent out on loan.

These big-money signings were gambles that did not pay off, but Lingard has proven himself over the years, so West Ham could be confident that he will not be another expensive flop if they do pursue a move for him.