Manuel Lanzini has returned to training with the first team - seven months after sustaining career-threatening ligament damage.
The Argentine midfielder experienced the heartbreak of missing the entire World Cup last summer after experiencing the freak injury just days before the competition was set to commence.Embed from Getty Images
Yet true to his word, the 25-year-old is expected returned in time to feature - in some way - in the latter half of West Ham's 2018/19 season. despite some sources having previously suggested that he was unlikely to feature again this season.
"We had the good news that Manu Lanzini started working with the squad," revealed manager Manuel Pellegrini. "It’s just the warm-up, but he did his examination and his recovery is in the correct way.
"He is still a few weeks away from playing; he is only working part of the warm-up with the squad, but the important thing is he feels good and his knee is in the correct way."
Speaking last summer, Lanzini had vowed to return in time to feature in West Ham's current campaign. "Some English media said that my injury will make me miss next season," Lanzini posted via his twitter timeline.
"None of this is true. The surgery went really well. Although I don’t want to set a date, I expect to be ready to play at the beginning of 2019."
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