TOM COLLOMOSSE: Jesse Lingard has set an example off the pitch at Forest but needs to perform on it

Jesse Lingard has charmed everyone at Nottingham Forest this season but now is the time for the former England star to deliver on the pitch as well as off it.

Forest boss Steve Cooper said on Thursday that Lingard was available for Saturday’s trip to West Ham, where the 30-year-old found some of the best form of his career during a loan spell in the 2020-21 campaign.

Lingard scored nine goals in 16 games for the Hammers, who were desperate to sign the attacker last summer after his contract at Manchester United had expired. In a deal driven by Miltiadis Marinakis, the son of owner Evangelos Marinakis, Forest beat them to the punch and made Lingard their top earner at the time.

Yet Lingard is still waiting for his first Premier League goal or assist this season. Having signed only a one-year deal, he would now be free to sign for an overseas club.

Yet Sportsmail understands Forest have yet to begin formal negotiations with Lingard over a new deal. Injuries and unsteady form have restricted Lingard to only 14 appearances in the league – less than Forest would have hoped from one of their top earners. Though there are still 15 games remaining, it feels as though Lingard needs to play a significant role in keeping Forest up to secure a new contract on similar terms.

Jesse Lingard is yet to score a league goal for Nottingham Forest after joining over the summer

Steve Cooper has confirmed the former Man United man will be available to face West Ham on Saturday

‘Jesse is available,’ confirmed Forest boss Steve Cooper. ‘Again, he’s one we have to be a little bit careful with, not doing too much, too soon.

‘He’s had a few constant niggles which have been a bit frustrating for all of us, but he’s back in training. With regards to the weekend, we’ll see whether it comes too soon.’

What is beyond doubt is Lingard’s attitude since he arrived at Forest. Cooper has often praised his commitment and performance in training, while club staff talk about his bubbly, upbeat nature.

Even when Lingard has been unavailable, he has been in the thick of the action, celebrating and commiserating with his team-mates. When things feel flat at the club’s training ground on the outskirts of Nottingham, Lingard can usually be relied upon to lift spirits. Numerous Forest sources have remarked that they have never seen him in a bad mood.

However, you do not pay a player a salary of about £125,000 a week, plus performance-related clauses, to be everyone’s best mate. As well as his spell at West Ham, Lingard played 232 games for United and won 32 England caps, helping Gareth Southgate’s team reach the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. 

This is the sort of heavyweight record the Forest owners were hoping would take their plans to the next level yet Lingard has simply never managed to get going.

He is one of many players who would have cursed the timing of the World Cup – and not only because he was not involved. Lingard had scored in the Carabao Cup win over Tottenham and looked sharp in Forest’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on November 12.

Lingard has been widely spoken of as a positive influence on the Forest dressing room

He has struggled to secure game time amid a string of injury problems this season

The 30-year-old would love a return to form against West Ham, where he enjoyed some of the best form of his career in 2021

Yet that was the final game before the break for Qatar 2022 and injuries have limited Lingard to three games since the resumption. He has managed 53 minutes of league action in that time, as he picked up an injury in Forest’s 3-0 defeat Old Trafford on December 27.

‘I’m happy and happiness is the most important thing in football,’ said Lingard at Forest’s mid-season training base near Athens last December. ‘There’s always going to be pressure but we should thrive off it and enjoy it.

‘I’m gliding across the pitch now. I’m happy and smiling. When I’m playing football it’s my happy place. I feel free and there are no worries or cares.’

Very few reach Lingard’s level of professional sport, however, without a burning desire to prove themselves. If Lingard is fit to face West Ham, he can expect a hot reception. How he would love to silence them and finally fire up his Forest career.