TRACKING ___Jesse Lingard is poised to return to action for Manchester United against Norwich City after recovering from illness, says manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United face Norwich at Carrow Road on Saturday with a place in the FA Cup semi-finals up for grabs.
Lingard has not played in either of United’s two matches since the season resumed but is now back in contention, with Solskjaer labelling the 27-year-old as a “vital player”.
“Jesse has come back after the lockdown with a smile on his face, loads of energy,” Solskjaer said at his pre-match news conference.
“Unfortunately last week he fell ill for a couple of days. But we have done all the tests and he’s fine now so he’ll be involved against Norwich now.
“Hopefully he can kick on because he’s scored vital goals for us and he is a vital player for us.
“So let’s see what the future holds because at the moment he is looking really sharp and focused.”
Another player to impress Solskjaer is right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who is experiencing his first season with United after signing from Crystal Palace.
Having established himself as a solid defender, Wan-Bissaka is beginning to show what he can do going forward and set up the second goal of Anthony Martial’s hat-trick in Wednesday’s 3-0 Premier League win over Sheffield United.
“You saw an exceptional defender when I watched him last season, he had a couple of games especially against [Leroy] Sane against Man City and you think, ‘Wow he’s so hard to go past’,” said Solskjaer.
“Then when we managed to sign him you get to know him, he’s a shy boy, he wants to learn, he listens and he’s providing more and more assists, create chances, crosses – it’s in him, because he’s been a winger.”
The best full-backs at the moment, sometimes they’ve been wingers before. We rely on them to go forwards with the way we want to play. I’m very pleased with his progress.”
