West Ham are interested in adding former River Plate playmaker, Manuel Lanzini to their ranks for the forthcoming season according to The Mirror. The 22-year-old has been plying his trade in the United Arab Emirates since leaving Argentina in 2014 but has longed to play in Europe since breaking into the River side. Slaven Bilic’s new-look Hammers have reportedly made some enquiries over a loan deal for the 2015/16 season with the option to make the move permanent.

It is not easy making your debut at a club like River Plate aged just seventeen and pulling on the weighty number ten shirt at such a young age but with that great honour comes huge expectation. For Manuel Lanzini, the majority of his River career was spent being linked with several top European sides, all eager to get their hands on the next young Argentine talent, and so when the 21-year-old left Nuñez for UAE side Al-Jazira it came as a bit of a surprise.

Lanzini was not the most consistent of performers whilst at River but showed enough potential to make European scouts take note. The diminuitive number ten has great close control and has the ability to drift past defenders making him ideal to play in that area just behind the strikers. A creative player but one who can arrive late to score goals, it is easy to see why River had hoped he would be the new Pablo Aimar when he burst onto the scene.

The switch to Al-Jazira may have been a slight sideways step in his career but Lanzini has continued to impress with 8 goals from 22 appearances. The Arabian side paid around $10 million for the youngster and so it can only be assumed that any deal with West Ham to make the transfer permanent would be for around that figure.

Undoubtedly talented it is still a huge step-up to suggest that Lanzini could cut it in the Premier League. Certainly not a player to revel in the physical side of the game, given his size, there are doubts over whether he would make the grade but a loan spell would give Bilic a good chance to take a closer look. This still seems likely an unlikely move but would be one of the more interesting Argentine transfers this summer if confirmed.