Al-Ettifaq have signed West Ham outcast Jesse Lingard on a one-month training deal, the club announced on Friday.
Lingard had spent last season on loan from West Ham at Nottingham Forest, where he made only 12 starts under Steve Cooper without scoring a single goal for the club.
The 30-year-old returned to London in the summer to train with the Hammers but is now without a club after his contract expired.
Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq have been rumoured to be interested in the player in the and have already signed a number of highly-rated players including Jordan Henderson, Jack Hendry, Moussa Dembele, Georginio Wijnaldum, and Demarai Gray from Everton.
With the Saudi transfer window coming to an end two weeks ago, it seems Al-Ettifaq are still planning to make more signings in January.
The Dammam-based side have acquired Lingard on a trial basis and will have the chance to turn the deal permanent if the Englishman lives up to the expectations in Saudi Arabia.
“Al-Ettifaq have reached an agreement to allow Jesse Lingard to train at the club for one month,” the club said in an official statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Should a permanent transfer materialise, Lingard will have to wait until January for Al-Ettifaq to be able to register the former Manchester United forward.
Gerrard’s side have had an incredible start to their Saudi Pro League campaign and recently earned a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Al-Tai to close the gap on leaders Al-Ittihad to two points.