Slaven Bilic has heaped praise on Manuel Lanzini saying that the Argentinean has started off much better in England than he had expected him to while signing him on loan.

Lanzini has played 8 games for the Hammers so far and has scored 2 goals, but, more than the goals, Bilic is impressed to see the kind of impact that he has been able to make.

According to the manager, he thought it would probably take somebody like Lanzini, who hadn’t played at such a high level before, a bit of time to get acclimatized to the conditions and only then, his best would come out, but, surprising him, the young playmaker has been spot on straightaway.

Talking about Lanzini, Bilic said, “Manuel was playing in UAE the previous season and although, they have a decent league over there, it still can’t be compared to the English top tier Football. So, I believed we had got to be patient with him as he would take a bit of time, but, to my surprise, he has hit the ground running right from the word go.”

“I have never had any doubt about his potential. When I was in Turkey, I had attempted to get him there as well, but, for some reason, I failed to do that. However, I am glad I got the opportunity to work alongside him this summer and it’s been really good so far.”

“He is a wonderful team man. Whatever role you give him, he accepts that gleefully and puts in his 100%. But, we have to make sure we get him looked after. He is an important guy and there’s a fairly long season ahead of us. So, we shouldn’t put him under too much of pressure.”