Jesse Lingard Returns to England for Family Matters
Jesse Lingard’s remarkable football odyssey has brought him back to England once again – at least temporarily.
The former Manchester United midfielder, now with Corinthians, has been granted permission to return home to deal with family matters, the Brazilian club confirmed in a statement on their official X account.
“The attacker Jesse Lingard was authorized by the football board and by coach Fernando Diniz to travel to England, this Thursday (05/28), to attend to family matters,” the club announced, adding that he “will be released from the match against Grêmio, next Saturday (05/30), for the Brazilian Championship.”
It is an abrupt pause in what has been one of the most intriguing late-career chapters of any recent England international.
From Wembley glory to a Brazilian first
Lingard walked away from Manchester United in 2022 having played more than 200 times for his boyhood club. His peak in red remains etched into Wembley folklore: that extra-time winner in the 2016 FA Cup final against Crystal Palace, a clean strike that sealed the trophy and his place in United history.
He moved on to Nottingham Forest in search of a fresh start, then pushed his career into unfamiliar territory with a switch to South Korea and FC Seoul. Two years in Asia broadened his horizons. Brazil then beckoned.
Corinthians took the gamble, and Lingard repaid them by writing a small but notable piece of history. Earlier this year he became the first Englishman ever to score for a Brazilian club, then followed it by becoming the first English player to score in the Copa Libertadores, South America’s answer to the Champions League.
Seventeen games, two goals, one assist. The raw numbers are modest, but the symbolism is not. An academy graduate from Carrington, once the face of United’s youthful exuberance, now making his mark in one of football’s most intense environments.
His most recent outing came in Serie A: a 45‑minute cameo in a 3-1 win over Clube Atlético Mineiro, a reminder of the quality he can still inject between the lines.
Corinthians caught between two worlds
Lingard’s departure, even on a short-term basis, lands at an awkward moment for Corinthians.
Domestically, they are wobbling. Fifteenth in the Brazilian league, only two places and three points above the relegation zone, the club are fighting to keep their heads above water in a fiercely competitive table.
On the continent, the picture is very different. Corinthians sit top of Group E in the Copa Libertadores after six matches, their campaign in South America offering the kind of authority and confidence that has eluded them at home.
Lingard has been part of that continental push, his presence adding European pedigree to a squad trying to reassert itself beyond Brazil’s borders. Losing him, even for a single fixture, strips coach Fernando Diniz of an experienced attacking option as the domestic pressure mounts.
For now, the story pauses with Lingard on a plane back to England, his future in Brazil still active but momentarily on hold. A career that has already spanned Manchester, Nottingham, Seoul and São Paulo now circles back to its starting point.
The question is simple and sharp: when he returns to Brazil, will he be the man to help drag Corinthians away from danger at home while keeping their Libertadores dream alive?
