(Football news) Nottingham Forest have sealed the signing of Jesse Lingard after hijacking the move for the former Manchester United player from West Ham as Forest are keen to demonstrate their ambition after winning promotion to the Premier League after 21 years. They have agreed personal terms with Lingard on an initial one-year contract worth wages are going to be somewhere around £200,000 a week. The 29-year-old was a free agent after leaving United last month ,he reportedly underwent a medical on Wednesday night and became the Midlands club’s ninth summer signing. It is understood that Forest have entered the race to sign Maxwel Cornet from Burnley as Everton had a loan bid for the Ivory Coast forward rejected last week.

West Ham had been optimistic that they were going to be reunited with Lingard, who did brilliantly during a loan spell with David Moyes’s side two seasons ago. They were reluctant to meet his request for a deal worth £180,000, but they believed that an offer in the region of £150,000 a week would have convinced him to return to east London. It came as a shock when it was reported that Forest were willing to break their wage structure for Lingard. Subsequently, West Ham were about to make him their highest earner despite knowing that it could cause disgruntlement in the dressing room. They had even hoped Lingard would have had a change of heart at the last moment.

Moyes must quickly deal with the disappointment of missing out on one of his key targets as the former United manager believed that Lingard, who could play in a number of positions in attacking midfield, would have improved his side’s output in the final third. Moyes turned down the chance to sign the Villarreal winger Arnaut Danjuma last month, who was the driving force behind Villarreal's great run in the Champions League this season. West Ham now need to move on as Lingard hopes that playing regularly at Nottingham will earn him an England recall before the World Cup.

Given that Lingard has joined a team that only retained their Premier League status this year,i t is perhaps a little surprising. It seems as though the two-time European champions presented Lingard with an offer that he simply couldn’t refuse. However, Forest have also confirmed another England international in Dean Henderson who will earn £110,000-a-week salary.  If Lingard is going to earn at least £200,000-a-week, then he would become the 19th highest-paid player in the Premier League.

The only players that who are earning more than him are Cristiano Ronaldo, Kevin De Bruyne, David de Gea, Mohamed Salah, Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane, Jack Grealish, N’Golo Kante, Timo Werner, John Stones, Anthony Martial, Virgil van Dijk, Thomas Partey, Thiago Alcantara, Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane. Currently, the highest-paid Premier League player outside of the ‘big six’ clubs is Jamie Vardy who is earning £140,000-a-week followed by Wilfried Zaha and Kasper Schmeichel who are reportedly earning £130,000-a-week.

Also read: Harry Toffolo completes his Nottingham Forest transfer