West Ham United fan favourite set for emotional return to former club after meeting with vice president

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West Ham United star and fan favourite Manuel Lanzini could be in line for an emotional return to former club River Plate. 

According to La Pagina Millonaria, Lanzini has held a meeting with River Plate vice president Matías Patanian about a potential return to Argentina.

Lanzini has spent the last six years or his career in London with West Ham after joining from Al-Jazira for £10.8m in 2016, where he has contributed 54 goals in 189 appearances in all competitions, including 44 in 161 Premier League games.

The 29-year-old playmaker has played his way back into the first team this season after struggling last season under David Moyes.

His contract with The Hammers doesn’t expire for another season but West Ham could be willing to allow him to leave if the Argentina league champions put in an appropriate bid.

The Spanish outlet have also reported Lanzini was open to returning to his homeland, telling ESPN in a 2021 interview: “At some point I will return to the club, when both parties are well and in agreement I will return.”

Lanzini’s only trophies in his career have come in South America, when won an Argentina league title and the Copa Sudamericana in 2014 with River, and the 2012 Brazilian league with Fluminense.

He is a big figure at West Ham, and with the continued expectation of European football he can continue to prove his worth on the European stage, but at the same time he is far from irreplaceable.

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