Metal in machine - what is it?

I’ve searched the help topics & further online, but I haven’t found a similar concern.

At the end of a wash cycle I found a small piece of metal, roughly 1 inch x 1/4 inch in size, and about 1/8 inch thick. It’s quite heavy for its size and shows slight signs of rust at edges. Its not recognisable as a piece of clothing, to me it most resembles a magnet for a door catch but that is a guess. I cannot think how it would have been introduced externally by us. However, we have only lived here 6 months and the machine is 9 years old so it’s possible a previous tenant washed it accidentally and it’s only just resurfaced.

My concern is could something have fallen off the inside of the machine and is this is indicative of a bigger problem?

The machine is a 9 year old combi washer dryer, model is Gorenje, don’t know model number. It’s a built in machine so it’s a little smaller than normal.

I have looked around and inside the machine and I cannot find anything obviously wrong / different. The machine is very loud and also periodically fails to drain or spin (or at least shows the fault code for this) and has to be reset. I’ve raised it with our landlord but he just said it’s fine & to reset it. So I don’t think he’ll get someone out to look unless I can prove there’s a serious fault.

Can anyone set my mind at ease either way? Thank you.