Manuel Lanzini puts the ball firmly in David Sullivan and David Gold’s court after breaking silence on West Ham future

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West Ham United star Manuel Lanzini has shifted the focus of his contract negotiations squarely onto co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold.

Lanzini’s West Ham career appeared to be at a crossroads in the summer.

The Argentine’s future was cast into doubt.

First there were separate reports linking Lanzini with a move away from West Ham.

There was talk of a move to Turkey with Fenerbache (The Mirror) and then a return to his first club River Plate (TYC Sports in Argentina).

Reports claimed Lanzini was challenging renewal salary

Then there was speculation a renewal option in Lanzini’s contract had a set wage the midfielder was not happy with.

As a result Lanzini was said to be ‘taking steps to see if anything can be done to stop the automatic renewal’.

There appears to have been some truth in that report if a new claim from fellow Hammers website Claret and Hugh is anything to go by.

C&H regularly claim to have inside information from a ‘top level source’ at West Ham, believed to be co-owner David Sullivan.

And they claimed a new deal could be agreed by September.

Lanzini breaks silence and puts co-owners in the spotlight

Now in an interview with Sky Sports Lanzini has broken his silence on the contract negotiations, making it clear he wants to stay. The midfielder also makes it clear that the fans want him to stay as does manager Manuel Pellegrini.

That leaves the ball in Sullivan and Gold’s court over whether they will pay meet his demands.

“Yes, we are talking with the club about staying and, of course, I want to stay,” Lanzini told Sky Sports.

“It is like my home. It is my fifth season now, I love the fans, the fans love me and the club is amazing.

“I speak everyday with Manuel (Pellegrini) and he understands me and I understand him. I did a really good recovery and since I started to play again, I believe I have done really well.”

Stance understandable, now money men must make it happen

As arguably West Ham’s most talented player – Mark Noble and Aaron Cresswell both name Lanzini as the best they have played with alongside Dimitri Payet (whufc.com) – it is understandable Lanzini would want that to be reflected in his contract.

The likes of Javier Hernandez (£140,000 per week) and Andriy Yarmolenko (£115,000 per week) have set the bar pretty high.

Now it is over to the money men Sullivan and Gold to make it happen.

They should have plenty of room on the wage bill. Hundreds of thousands of pounds were freed in the summer after a raft of departures and only two big-earning arrivals.