David Moyes, the manager of West Ham United, confessed that he regrets not being able to ensure more playing time for Manuel Lanzini lately.
The 29-year-old midfielder has failed to make much impact this season in London Stadium and only 7 out of his 15 matches have been played in English competitions. As a result, it is clear that his chances of getting game time are limited despite Moyes’ desire to see him on the field.
122 minutes of Premier League football is all Manuel Lanzini has been allocated this season, but he’s started each and every game in the Europa Conference League. He’s one of two players to do so – goalkeeper Alphonse Areola being the other. These two individuals have become popular prop bets for fans who have been wagering on the Hammers’ European adventures with the safe sites on casinoszonder.com, as supporters know that they can expect to see the pairing on the field giving their all due to the lack of minutes that they are getting.
Despite being almost always fit for the entire season, Manuel Lanzini has only had two substitute appearances in West Ham United’s last 19 Premier League outings. His current contract with them is set to expire by the end of this term.
To top it off, he only played for the last three minutes of their victorious fourth-round FA Cup match against Derby County a few weeks ago.
Moyes has expressed his admiration for Lanzini, yet due to an inactive January and February schedule (not participating in the Europa Conference League), as well as the new signings of Lucas Paqueta and Flynn Downes during the summer, he was unable to capitalize on any opportunities.
“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.
“We need players to cover us for all the cup competitions in Europe. But this period here has probably been the first where we’ve got Saturday to Saturday for I can’t remember how long. We’ve not really had that because of the European football most of the time.”
Since his initial loan spell with West Ham from Al Jazira in 2015, Lanzini has racked up an impressive 218 appearances and scored 31 goals across all competitions. Notably, the Argentine playmaker notched 26 of them within England’s top-tier competition; the Premier League.
While his contract is currently set to expire in the summer, West Ham does have the option to extend his contract by an additional two years. Whether that happens, though, remains to be seen. It could be in the Hammers’ best interest to trigger the option in order to attract a transfer fee, but it could just mean paying for a player who is clearly surplus to requirements until an offer comes in.
