Jesse Lingard has admitted his happiness at being given game time by manager Louis van Gaal last weekend. The Dutchman introduced Lingard during the second half against Everton, and the 22-year-old looked lively.

It was Lingard’s first piece of first team action all season, having only previously made appearances during the Red’s pre-season tour of the USA.

Despite only appearing for 45 minutes, the England u21 international hopes he has shown enough to convince the boss to play him more often, stating that he is grateful to get some game time under his belt.

“The manager said he wanted me to stay and that he sees me playing games this season.” said Lingard.

“I think this won’t have done me any harm, hopefully. He trusts the youth, and we have to repay him by playing well.”

“It’s great to be back and help the team in any way I can,” he said. “Most importantly we got the three points and hopefully we can carry on to this week.” I want to be doing this week in week out, playing for Man United, but I have got to be patient and wait for my time and it’s great that I have got 45 minutes.”

“The first 10 minutes I was blowing a bit, but I got my second wind and then got comfortable.”

Jesse was also full of praise for captain Wayne Rooney, who scored his first goal at Goodison since 2007. The attacking midfielder said that Rooney is an inspiration.

“You can tell he is a world class player,” he said. “You can see that in training every day. He has got goals and he is captain, he leads the team, he sets a great example and we follow him.”

“You see him as a friend now, but obviously on the pitch you look up to him. He is a great captain. I have been around him most years anyway, coming through the ranks. I joined at seven, so when we were Under-18s we started mixing with the first team. You see him about, and still then he helped you along the way, as he does now.”

“He is a bubbly character, he might not seem it, but he is. He goes to each group – foreigners, youngsters, he will have chats with everybody and try and help us along the way.”

[Quotes via Daily Mail]