Jesse Lingard remains without a club after leaving Nottingham Forest in June and now he’s offered his services to Barcelona.

That is according to the Spanish newspaper Sport.

So, what exactly has been going on with Lingard since his Forest departure? Let’s take a closer look…

Lingard offers services to Barcelona

This is quite a remarkable turn of events and it’s a piece of news that will surely leave Forest fans scratching their heads.

Lingard spent a season at Forest, signing for the club shortly after the club won promotion but his City Ground spell wasn’t successful at all.

Now, Sport have claimed that Lingard has offered his services to Barcelona, believing that he can add something to their ranks.

Lingard has been training in Dubai on his own as he waits to earn himself a contract with a new club.

One aspect that might tempt Barca into making an offer to Lingard is their financial situation, with FFP hanging over their heads still.

During his time with Forest, Lingard scored twice and claimed two assists from 20 appearances.

He was just starting to get into some sort of form before the World Cup saw domestic football take a break.

Following the restart, he struggled desperately with injuries and Steve Cooper opted not to extend his £80,000-a-week contract.

Forest have to learn lessons from Lingard ordeal

Nothing against Lingard on a personal level but his time at Forest seemed destined to fail from the off.

The player spent the majority of 2021/22 not playing football and it was always a long shot that he’d be able to do a job in a team that didn’t have much of the ball.

Lingard did seem like a good character at Forest. When he was injured towards the end of last season, he was always at games cheering the team on from the sidelines.

A new contract for Lingard at Forest was never going to be forthcoming, however.

Now, the challenge for the Reds is to learn from this type of transfer and utilise their wage budget more efficiently in the future.

As for Lingard signing for Barcelona, it would be deemed a real shock transfer.

At 31-years-old, the versatile forward will feel he has something to offer but it’s hard to believe that the Catalan giants don’t already have better options within their current squad.