David Moyes has responded to unhappy West Ham star Manuel Lanzini after a social media dig but makes it clear he’s fifth choice.
West Ham ace Lanzini took to Instagram last night to repost a really impressive statistic from the end of last season.
The Argentine midfielder ended the 2021/22 campaign as the sixth most successful passer in all of Europe, behind only Toni Kroos, Stanislav Lobotka, Idrissa Gueye, Axel Witsel and Marcelo Brozovic.
The 29-year-old recorded an incredible pass completion rate of 92.2% for West Ham in the Premier League last season.
And it seems he was clearly keen to remind manager Moyes of his qualities.
Lanzini made 30 Premier League appearances for West Ham last season, compared to just five this term despite the fact the Hammers are having their worst domestic campaign for years.
He was given 1,787 minutes in the league last season but so far he has just 122 minutes of Prem action to his name (Transfermarkt) as West Ham flirt with relegation.
Lanzini took to his Instagram stories to post the table alongside a ‘baffled’ emoji.
David Moyes responds to unhappy West Ham star Manuel Lanzini after social media dig but makes it clear he’s fifth choice
Now Moyes has responded to unhappy West Ham star Lanzini after his social media dig but makes it clear he’s fifth choice.
In a typically honest interview with Football.London, Moyes admitted he would ‘love’ to give Lanzini more game time at West Ham.
But he then made it clear there are three players – Lucas Paqueta, Pablo Fornals and Flynn Downes – who are ahead of him in the pecking order on top of his first in line substitute Tomas Soucek.
“He’s not played – I would love to say he’s had more minutes,” Moyes told Football.London.
“We really like Manu. It’s just the way things have gone, I’ve not been able to introduce him at times in games.
“Pablo Fornals has been training really well and helping. We’ve just slightly changed the position of (Lucas) Paqueta which has altered things a little bit. I’ve got Flynn Downes who I’m trying to give minutes to. These are the problems that managers have.”
The injury to Paqueta is likely to keep the Brazilian out for at least a week or two at best one would imagine.
That means Soucek will probably regain his starting spot in midfield alongside Declan Rice.
So Lanzini will – for the time being at least – be bumped up the pecking order to fourth choice.
Given West Ham struggle to keep possession in games and break through the opposition lines with their passing, one would think Lanzini would be the ideal solution.
But it now seems almost certain he will be allowed to leave when his £100k per week contract is up in the summer or West Ham would have to activate a two-year extension – which amounts to around £9.6m in wages.
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