West Ham struggled to find heroes during their debut season at the London Stadium but the situation could be entirely different next season, as the Hammers seem to have found some stability in the early weeks of the close-season.

The Hammers have already confirmed the arrival of Pablo Zabaleta on a free transfer from Manchester City and secured a new deal for Michail Antonio, whilst Argentine midfielder Manuel Lanzini played down the chances of him moving away from East London.

Antonio, Zabaleta and Lanzini are likely to be a crucial trio for West Ham next season and it could be the year where Argentine ace Lanzini excels and proves his value to the side significantly- especially if his international debut is anything to go by.

Lanzini came off the bench to play the final ten minutes of Argentina’s 1-0 friendly victory over arch-rivals Brazil in Australia, where the midfielder fulfilled his dream of playing alongside South American icon Lionel Messi.

The 24-year-old may be disappointed not to have started to game but he could change that on Tuesday when Argentina face their second test under new boss Jorge Sampaoli, with a clash against Singapore in the Far East.

Argentina have struggled since losing the Copa America final to Chile last summer and currently sit in a lowly fifth-place, which means they face an inter-confederation play-off if they are to seal a spot in next summer’s World Cup.

Sampaoli will aim to turn things around though with Argentina having four games left of their qualifying campaign and a fierce battle is set to take place, as there is just four points separating second-place Colombia with sixth-placed Ecuador.

Argentina have a fairly comfortable finish to their qualifying campaign as they tackle a Venezuela side that have already been eliminated and a Peru side that also seem set to miss-out, although there are two big clashes with Uruguay and Ecuador.

Lanzini has a chance of establishing himself as a key-player for Sampaoli ahead of next summer’s World Cup and it would provide West Ham with a huge boost if the 24-year-old was to establish himself as a regular starter for Argentina.

Playing alongside the likes of Lionel Messi would certainly benefit the young South American and it would help raise West Ham’s profile worldwide, which is crucial to the club’s finances as they look to climb the Premier League standings.