Jesse Lingard Likened to Andres Iniesta by Rene Meulensteen

Former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen has intensified the pressure placed upon rising Red Devils star Jesse Lingard after comparing the 22-year-old with Barcelona ace Andres Iniesta.

Speaking to club magazine United Review, Sir Alex Ferguson's former No. 2 likened Lingard to the Spain veteran, but admitted the United playmaker is only beginning his Old Trafford journey (h/t Daily Star's Luke Gardener): "I see him as an English version of Iniesta. He has still got a long way to go. But that is the sort of player I see in him."

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Lingard made his Premier League debut for United at the start of the 2014-15 campaign, but he has become more important this season following several loan spells away from the club.

Comparisons with Iniesta strike as odd considering the 22-year-old has played almost exclusively from the wing this term, coming on as a substitute for Juan Mata in three successive games before starting each of United's last two outings.

Lingard scored his first Premier League goal for United in November's 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion, and he was impressive in Saturday's 2-1 win over Watford, where he took up a more attacking role next to Memphis Depay.

Louis van Gaal's side are reaping the rewards of gifting another academy product increased first-team responsibilities, and Lingard was recently rewarded with his first senior England call-up. Stuart Mathieson of the Manchester Evening News quoted the wide man, who is delighted with a month that's changed his career drastically:

"

It feels like in a month everything has changed! It is great. All I ever wanted to do was play for Man United and I’m doing that now. I am helping my team-mates and they are helping me. It’s a great feeling. 

Apparently I was on standby for England but I did not know! I got the call Saturday night and went down. I’m not going to turn that down. It’s a massive honour to get called up by England and it is just a shame I did not get any minutes. It’s a relief to be there with them.

"

Lingard's soaring progress has been well-timed, too. Van Gaal's side came under fire for a lack of creativity following three successive 0-0 stalemates in October, but the prospect has helped inject new life in attack.

Samuel Luckhurst of the MEN recently insisted the player could have had even more success thus far, however, had his chance conversion been slightly better:

Six Premier League appearances into his Manchester United tenure and Lingard is already being dubbed similar in style to Iniesta, a player who's ruled the roost at the Camp Nou for more than a decade.

The 2010 World Cup winner is no stranger to playing on the wing himself, but whereas that's a natural abode for Lingard, Iniesta tends to only occupy that position when Barca are short of options.

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Meulensteen will be considered something of an experienced head when it comes to familiarity with Lingard, having worked with the United maestro from as early an age as 11, per Gardener's report.

These world-class comparisons tend to place expectation on youngsters that can be difficult to live up to, but Lingard will have to get used to such pressures if he continues to impress at the Theatre of Dreams.