Manuel Lanzini ruled out of the World Cup after serious knee injury

Manuel Lanzini’s World Cup dreams are over after he suffered a serious knee injury in training with Argentina.

The West Ham United forward ruptured his cruciate knee ligament in training on Friday, Argentina confirmed on their official Twitter page. 

The seriousness of the injury also means Lanzini is likely to miss the opening games of the 2018-19 Premier League season. 

The Argentine national team confirmed the unfortunate news for Lanzini on social media

The evening before, Lanzini appeared in a smiling picture with the 23-man Argentina squad

The Argentine national team tweeted: ‘Manuel Lanzini suffered, in today’s morning training, the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee.’

The unfortunate news comes the day after Lanzini appeared in a picture with the rest of the Argentina squad, posted to team mate Lionel Messi’s Instagram.

Lanzini was smiling along with the rest of the team as they took a photo on an evening out in a restaurant as they prepare for Russia.

Lanzini will miss the World Cup and will be out for the opening weeks of the Premier League

However Lanzini will not travel with the rest of the squad and will instead return to London for treatment. Argentina have not yet confirmed who they will call up as his replacement.

Lanzini’s original selection raised some eyebrows as he was picked by manager Jorge Sampaoli ahead of Inter Milan forward Mauro Icardi, who scored 29 goals in Serie A last season. He made 29 appearances for West Ham last season, scoring five goals and creating nine assists.

Argentina’s pre-World Cup plans had already been disrupted after a friendly away to Israel was cancelled, meaning the only match the squad has played together in preparation was a 4-0 win over minnows Haiti.

They will now have to deal with a new player being drafted in after Lanzini’s serious injury.