The Athletic’s West Ham United correspondent Roshane Thomas has slammed Manuel Lanzini and hinted that he should be replaced by the Hammers.
Back in the summer of 2015, the Irons sealed the arrival of the Argentine attacking midfielder from Al-Jazira on loan before his move was made permanent a year later in a £10.8m deal (per Transfermarkt).
Since moving to London, the 27-year-old middleman has made 149 appearances for West Ham, in which he has bagged 22 goals and provided 23 assists.
However, in the past two seasons, he has only contributed one goal and six assists over 40 appearances in all competitions.
During the latest episode of The Athletic’s U Irons podcast, Thomas slated Lanzini and suggested that the Irons should be looking to replace him in the attacking midfield role.
He said: “I feel like, with Lanzini, he’s just too anonymous at times. You sort of feel like, ‘Oh, Lanzini’s playing today,’ – that tends to be the sort of reaction whenever I watch him play more recently.
“I’m happy he had that moment at Tottenham because, although he’s been struggling, we’ll bring it up and say, ‘Oh, but he scored a cracking goal against Tottenham.’
“So, I’m happy at least he’s had that moment to sort of fall back on, but it’s the one area [attacking midfield] which we’re struggling – we’ve tried Andriy Yarmolenko, we’ve tried other players, it just hasn’t really clicked.
“So, I feel like that’s somewhere where, definitely, West Ham have to address.”
TIF Thoughts on what Roshane Thomas said about Manuel Lanzini…
As can be seen in what the reporter had to say, he believes that the attacking midfielder has been “anonymous” for the Hammers recently, so, they should be looking to replace him.
Do West Ham need to replace Manuel Lanzini?
Yes, he's not good enough
No, he's a good player
So far this season, the Argentine has made 11 appearances in the top flight, in which he has managed to bag just one goal and provide one assist (per WhoScored).
Over those appearances, he has earned a weak 6.41/10 average rating, too, making him the sixth-worst performer in the Irons’ squad.
So, it is clear to see that the £12.6m-rated attacking midfielder has not been playing at a good standard for West Ham and Thomas is seemingly correct in his belief that he needs replacing.