West Ham boss David Moyes suggests Manuel Lanzini initially didn’t live up to expectations

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West Ham United will be worrying over Manuel Lanzini’s fitness after he had to be replaced during their Premier League draw.

In comments reported by Football London, David Moyes has suggested that Manuel Lanzini was one player who did not live up to expectations during his first few weeks in charge of West Ham, but insisted that the playmaker has been much more impressive recently.

Like many of the Irons squad, Lanzini had not been enjoying the best of seasons when Moyes arrived at the London Stadium in November, with injury restricting the Argentinian to a handful of appearances during the final stages of Slaven Bilic’s tenure.

But Lanzini has looked a lot more impressive over the last month or so, providing two goals and four assists in eight appearances in the Premier League. And Moyes has suggested that he was underwhelmed when he first starting working with the attacking midfielder, but now knows what all the fuss is about.

“I think he was talked a lot about when I came and I have to be honest, I didn’t see that in the first half dozen games or so,” he said, as reported by Football London.

“I think in recent weeks are beginning to see what everyone was telling me out and he is starting to form a great understanding with Marko [Arnautovic] though we didn’t quite get the magic we needed in front of goal.”

Given Lanzini’s importance to the team, Moyes will desperately be hoping that the 24-year-old is not facing a lengthy lay-off on the sidelines after he had to be replaced during the draw with Bournemouth on Saturday.

Lanzini is undoubtedly one of the players who is most capable of producing a moment of magic out of virtually nothing and getting him back quickly will give the Irons a great chance of pulling even further away from the bottom three and perhaps pushing into the top-half of the table.