Jesse Lingard still watches Manchester United, usually on the television from his apartment in Seoul.
‘Most often it’s the highlights,’ he tells Mail Sport with a smile. ‘There’s a nine-hour time difference so I am usually in bed. But they are still my club.’
It’s almost three years since Lingard left Old Trafford and it was painful. As United’s slide from prominence had gathered pace, he became a lightning rod for criticism.
But there is no pain anymore, only pride in a boyhood dream realised and some empathy for those now walking their own difficult path at a place he still calls home.