The England international left his boyhood club upon the expiration of his contract after spending time with West Ham United on loan. The move to the City Ground didn't go according to plan – an injury hit campaign restricted Lingard to 12 Premier League starts before his contract expired once again.
Speaking to the BBC, Lingard revealed that he wanted a move to the Hammers but his future was not under his control and the switch to Forest was not his decision.
"The Forest deal, when we were going through that - and I don't want to go into too much detail - but I wasn't in control of anything at that time," he says.
"I basically didn't have a choice. I knew what I wanted to do, I knew what offer was on the table from West Ham and what was on offer from Forest - there was a place I'd have preferred to go.
"But people have their own say and at the time I didn't really feel like I could voice my opinion.
"Now I can see people didn't have my best interests (at heart). But obviously West Ham didn't happen. I went to Forest.
"The Forest thing happened for a reason, for me to find out certain things."
Lingard , now plays for FC Seoul in South Korea and is loving life on the other side of the planet where he has become a cult hero among fans. He says he is as fit and strong as he has ever been and may regret not moving to the up and coming league sooner.
"I'm running between 10km to 12km every game, my high-speed runs are always high," Lingard says.
"I've been injury-free the whole season, taking care of my body, recovering better, eating the right foods. Being professional," Lingard says.
"In England I had my chef and personal trainer with me. Here it is totally different. I've got to do it on my own. I remember one of the first games in Jeju - I felt like I was blowing after a couple of minutes. So humid.
"The tempo is high out here, the games are intense. At the start, I wasn't fit, but once I found the rhythm I got used to it."