West Ham United’s latest summer recruit Manuel Lanzini impressed against Werder Bremen and looks set to make his competitive debut in the Europa League.
While it may have only been a friendly, new signing Manuel Lanzini was one of the real positives from the second half performance against the German visitors in what was the Hammers’ last pre-season friendly before the start of the new Premier League season.
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic was quite open and honest when he made the skilful Argentine his ninth summer capture and admitted he has taken a gamble on the 22-year-old.
That’s because Lanzini has spent the last couple of seasons playing in the footballing backwater that is the UAE Arabian Gulf League for Al Jazira.
He was another in a long line of skilful Argentinians who were likened to Lionel Messi when he broke through at River Plate as a 17-year-old.
Could Lanzini be a surprise package against FC Astra Giurgiu?
But it is easy to see why. When he came on for the second half against the Bundesliga side on Sunday he looked fit, lively and true to his nickname ‘the Jewel’ very skilful and exciting on the ball.
He was always looking to take on his marker or make a forward pass, something the fans present enjoyed immensely.
From this early showing Lanzini looks like a gamble that could well pay off for the Hammers.
And his impressive display may also see him thrust straight into competitive action as the Hammers flay to Romania for the second leg of their Europa League third qualifying round match against FC Astra Giurgiu on Thursday night.
The tie is delicately poised at 2-2 on aggregate with Astra holding the advantage of two away goals.
Bilic insisted before the Bremen game that the players who started would more or less be the ones to face Arsenal in the first game of the new season on Sunday. And crucially those same players will not feature in Romania.
Exciting Argentine relishing potential European bow
Therefore Lanzini could make his competitive and European bow, a prospect he told West Ham’s official website he is relishing.
“I think that we have to put our minds to Thursday’s match against Astra in Romania,” he told whufc.com.
“I think it will be a difficult match, but I think we will put our minds to it and concentrate of getting the best result.”
The Hammers were cruising for the first hour against Astra at Upton Park, taking a 2-0 lead with star summer signing Dimitri Payet pulling the strings in midfield.
Now they know they must win the game to progress to the final qualifying play-off match.
But Payet will almost certainly not feature in Romania, leaving the door open for a player like Lanzini, who will offer something of an unknown threat to Astra, to make his mark in the claret and blue.
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