Monday 19 August 2019 14:11, UK
West Ham are keen to secure Manuel Lanzini to a new long-term contract, Sky Sports News understands.
The Argentina attacking midfielder has only 12 months left to run on his current contract at the London Stadium and is yet to sign an extension.
West Ham do hold an option to extend Lanzini's deal by a further two years, but they are determined to ensure he has a contract with the club beyond 2022.
Lanzini suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury last summer which ruled him out of the 2018 World Cup in Russia and left him on the sidelines for eight months.
Given the serious nature of the injury, West Ham wanted to see how the 26-year-old fared on his return to first-team action before beginning talks over a new contract.
Lanzini made his return from injury last February in a 3-1 victory over Fulham, but arguably struggled to return to his very best form before the end of last season as he worked his way back to full fitness.
Following a full pre-season, Lanzini appears to have returned to the form he showed prior to his devastating knee injury.
He was West Ham's best player during pre-season and showed his ability to add goals from midfield, scoring in three successive friendlies against Fulham, Hertha Berlin and Athletic Bilbao.
Lanzini has continued that form into the new season and was a stand-out performer in the 1-1 draw at Brighton on Saturday, providing the assist for Javier Hernandez to open the scoring at the Amex Stadium.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini, director of football Mario Husillos and co-owner David Sullivan have built a squad with an abundance of attacking talent.
Lanzini - nicknamed 'The Jewel' - is a key component of West Ham's creative options and has consistently shown his ability to be the man relied upon.
His ability to collect the ball from deep, drive forward and create scoring opportunities for his team-mates is invaluable to the way Pellegrini wants to play.
He has shown himself an able finisher in front of goal and has the pedigree to capitalise on dead-ball situations.
Lanzini is arguably entering the peak years of his career and, as he showed against Brighton at the weekend, appears ready to take on the role of talisman at West Ham.
