West Ham United playmaker Manuel Lanzini is facing around three weeks on the sidelines through injury, according to Football Insider.
The outlet claims that the Argentine international’s setback is worse than originally feared, where his involvement against Manchester United on Sunday was the only thing up in the air.
The 26-year-old did indeed miss that clash, but will now seemingly face even longer out of action. The Hammers’ are hoping that he will be back to full fitness after the October international break.
The news is a big blow to Manuel Pellegrini’s side, with the Chilean having leaned heavily on Lanzini’s creative abilities early on this season.
OPINION
This is the last thing the West Ham fans wanted to discover in the build up to Sunday’s clash with United at the London Stadium. Lanzini has been one of the team’s best players through the opening month or so of the new campaign, providing a hugely creative presence in midfield and combining the good work of Declan Rice and Mark Noble with the powerful Sebastien Haller up front. He is the perfect link-man for Pellegrini’s team and his absence will likely be hugely felt in east London. The good thing from a West Ham point of view is that he’s ‘only’ out for three weeks and that the club signed playmaker Pablo Fornals from Villarreal this summer. The arrival of the Spaniard has meant that they are in a good place despite this setback, with the 23-year-old in position to slide straight in and replace Lanzini, as he did on Sunday. So while this injury is undoubtedly bad news for the Hammers, it could be a lot worse.
