Manuel Lanzini’s absence during Argentina’s international break have been explained, with the playmaker never due to appear for his country despite being called up, according to Football.London.
There had been widespread confusion after the 26-year-old was not even included on the bench for the 3-1 defeat to Venezuela on Friday evening.
According to this report, however, the intention was always to include Lanzini in a purely training capacity, and to assure him of his place in the squad for future matches.
It is also understood that he will not be involved against Morocco on Tuesday night.
OPINION
This is a massive boost for West Ham and their fans. After such a lengthy absence, they must be wishing they could wrap their tricky Argentine up in cotton wool, and hearts must have been in mouths when he mysteriously went missing on Friday. The national side didn’t exactly help matters by failing to address his absence, and there must have been real concern that he had picked up some kind of knock or aggravated the ligament injury that sidelined him for so long. Thankfully, that doesn’t appear to be the case, and in truth, this might actually work out to be the best thing that could have happened for the Hammers. This way, Lanzini gets to know that he is still a valued member of the national squad, which will no doubt do wonders for his confidence, and he gets to keep his fitness up by training with some of the best players in world football. Out of the ashes of despair, a real win-win situation has risen.
