West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that Hammers star man Manuel Lanzini is suffering with an injury issue.
The 26-year-old has been a crucial part of the Irons’ fine start to the new season, but the boss has now said that he is a doubt for Sunday’s clash with Manchester United.
“Winston Reid is still recovering,” he said at his pre match press conference, as per Football London [12:33]. “Hope that next week he will start working with the squad.
“Manuel Lanzini has a problem we will review before the game.”
OPINION
Well, this isn’t the news that the West Ham United supporters wanted to hear on Friday, is it? Lanzini has been absolutely pivotal to Pellegrini’s side so far this campaign, creating chances at will and linking up beautifully with the likes of Felipe Anderson and Sebastien Haller. Pellegrini doesn’t say what the specific problem is that Lanzini is having, but we can assume it’s not too serious if he’s going to be assessed prior to the game to see if he can compete or not. If it was something more grave then there’d simply be no chance that he’d be able to play against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side. You wonder, though, whether Pellegrini may just drop Lanzini to the bench because he has solid options to come in and replace him if he’s not 100%. Big money summer signing Pablo Fornals would be the obvious man to come in and replace Lanzini, and so it’s not as if him dropping out would end West Ham’s hopes against the Red Devils. Still, let’s hope for the best and see what the Hammers decide to do with the Argentine.