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Liverpool were reportedly interested in signing West Ham United attacking midfielder Manuel Lanzini this summer, prior to the Argentina international suffering a serious knee ligament injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.

Liverpool have been linked with Lanzini in the past, with a report from The Times explaining that their interest in the player this summer has now unsurprisingly ended.

The 25-year-old, who joined West Ham from Al Jazira in 2015 and has previously played well against Liverpool, has been replaced in the Argentina squad by veteran midfielder Enzo Perez.

After suffering the cruel injury, Lanzini posted an emotional message on Instagram, expressing his great regret and thanking those who have supported him.

"This message is to tell you that there is more suffering and pain that I feel for what happened to me, for being so close to fulfilling the dream I dreamed of as a kid to play a World Cup, not being able to do it," he said.

"Beyond all this, I am very grateful to you for having sent me so nice messages of support, affection and good energies. Thank my family that they always see a positive side to this and that makes me very well and for restraining me."

Liverpool are already welcoming Naby Keita and Fabinho to Anfield this summer, but a proposed deal for Lyon forward Nabil Fekir fell apart at the 11th hour after the player underwent a medical.

Given that Lanzini was also apparently on a 'potential list of targets', Liverpool will have little choice but to look elsewhere if they to add any further attacking impetus to the squad if the Fekir deal cannot be resurrected after the World Cup.

For now, Fekir appears focused on performing well for France rather than his club future. The 24-year-old tweeted an image of the French team aboard a plane on Sunday afternoon, with the caption 'en route' as Les Bleus set off for their World Cup base in Russia.