Nayef Aguerd - signed (30m)

[Coffee]

"OS West Ham United complete Nayef Aguerd transfer West Ham United are delighted to announce the signing of Morocco international defender Nayef Aguerd. The 26-year-old joins the Hammers from French Ligue 1 club Rennes on a five-year contract and adds further quality and depth to David Moyes‚Äô squad. He will wear the No27 shirt. Aguerd has enjoyed two impressive seasons with Rennes, enhancing the reputation he established at FUS Rabat, Dijon and with the Moroccan national team. Now, the left-sided player will continue his career in the English Premier League, where his combination of talents will see him provide strong competition for Craig Dawson, Issa Diop, Angelo Ogbonna and Kurt Zouma. ‚ÄúI was really excited when I heard about West Ham United's interest,‚Äù said Aguerd, an impressive individual who speaks fluent French, English, Arabic and Spanish. ‚ÄúWhen I heard about it, I knew I needed to go to the Premier League, because it‚Äôs a dream for every player. ‚ÄúWest Ham is a historic Club. I saw a few of their games this year, and I saw the fans and the atmosphere were fantastic, with the bubbles! ‚ÄúI talked with the manager and he showed me that he was very interested, so it was easy to choose to come to West Ham.‚Äù Aguerd was born in the city of K?©nitra in the north of Morocco into a footballing family. His father played in the Moroccan top-flight, while his uncle Abdelmajid Bouyboud was capped 34 times and appeared at the 1994 FIFA World Cup finals ‚Äì an achievement his nephew could emulate in Qatar later this year. As a boy, Aguerd represented local club KAC of K?©nitra before being scouted and recruited to the national Mohammed VI Football Academy in the capital city of Rabat, where he spent four years playing alongside the likes of Sevilla striker Youssef En-Nesyri. In 2014, aged 18, he joined leading club Rabat FUS, making 12 appearances in his debut season and attracting the attention of a host of leading Spanish clubs. After bulking up and working hard on his game, Aguerd then inspired FUS to their first-ever Moroccan Championship in May 2016, scoring a vital goal against Ittihad Tanger that all but clinched the title. After scoring in the 2017 CAF Champions League and impressing regularly for FUS over the next two seasons, Aguerd joined French Ligue 1 club Dijon in 2018. Two encouraging seasons for Les Rouges led to a transfer to Rennes, where he started the club‚Äôs first-ever UEFA Champions League match at home to Russian side Krasnodar and featured in four of six group-stage fixtures in the autumn of 2020. Aguerd has thrived at Roazhon Park, making 66 Ligue 1 appearances and helping Rennes qualify for Europe in each of the last two seasons. He scored twice in seven UEFA Europa Conference League appearances and started 31 Ligue 1 games as Rennes finished fourth last term. At international level, the defender was capped at U20 and U23 level before making his senior debut against Albania in August 2016. Two years later, he helped Morocco win the African Nations Championship on home turf. He is now a regular in the Atlas Lions‚Äô starting XI with 25 senior caps and was an ever-present in Morocco‚Äôs successful 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign and run to the 2021 CAF Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals. Everyone at West Ham United would like to welcome Nayef to London Stadium and wish him all the best for his career in Claret and Blue."

[Lato]

"We have been here before.......Simon Webster, Richard Hall...."

[fraser]

"Ogbonna may not be ready for a while, it is very risky. We're another injury to Zouma away from a disaster.. Maybe a loan.."

[legrandefromage]

Waiting for someone to suggest that Scamacca could fill in at centre back in an emergency

[Jimmy Neighbour]

"Take your point, but I suspect Dawson and Og will be 'ready' or whatever term one wishes to use, soon enough, and as big a blow as it is with Aguerd 3 months isn't that long a time, assuming that timescale is correct. I just can't see us spending what's left of the budget on another CB which would take the count up to 6."

[fraser]

"Out till November and then it's the world Cup. If we get through to the conference league that's 16 league games, 8 Europe plus league Cup.. Think we're definitely going to need a cb."

[Kaiser Zoso]

Julien FAUBERT

[fraser]

"I'm not sure we are OK for centre backs.. Ogbonna not ready, Dawson not appeared yet in pre season and two games a week if we get into the conference group stages."

[legrandefromage]

Does the (30m) in the thread title represent the amount of minutes he will play?

[Jimmy Neighbour]

"You literally couldn't make it up, absolutely fucking horrible news, and why does it always seem to be worse case with us? First and foremost you have to feel for the player, he must be in bits. The only small consolation is we are ok for CB's, can't see Diop leaving now. Gutted."

[Jimmy Neighbour]

"You literally couldn't make it up, absolutely fucking horrible news, and why does it always seem to be worse case with us? First and foremost you have to feel for the player, he must be in bits. The only small consolation is we are ok for CB's, can't see Diop leaving now. Gutted."

[Sir Alf]

"Piss head Hugh, who initially said minor injury back for first game, now saying he has an exclusive update and it’s torn ankle ligaments that were repaired. Up to 3 months recovery which is what we all thought worst case was. So won’t see him until after the World Cup which will be Dec I guess :-("

[Takashi Miike]

webster had already broken the same leg in two places when playing for sheff utd

[Jaan Kenbrovin]

Is it too late to get a refund?

[yngwies Cat]

Simon Webster

[threesixty]

Surely this is a joke? How do you make a bog standard tackle at this level and do so much damage to yourself? Defenders are meant to do sliding tackles every day. That’s their fucking job. I can’t believe it. Our luck is terrible.

[Charoo]

Jasnik Just read he hasn’t missed a game through injury in two seasons.

[ATBOG]

BLOODY AFRICANS! CAUSING MAYHEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jasnik]

Anyone know his injury record before this or are we just jinx'd

[kylay]

"Jesus fucking wept. Seems like just yesterday Zouma done his hamstring against chelsea, or his ankle against Brentford, or Ogbonna's knee against Liverpool..."

[dealcanvey]

He’ll be rushed back for World Cup by his country and be fucked again.

[Pedro]

Have to wait and see Bad news for him if misses World Cup. Good news for us is that there is 1.5 months of no matches. No point rushing to get fit for November if can rest for two months.

[fraser]

"Depends on what he's had done, we don't know."

[Charoo]

"Ankle surgery takes 3-4 months recovery - can take a year to settle properly. Even being lean and fit, young and with constant physio it’s going to take until after the World Cup to be up to the rigours of the premier league. Absolutely gutted."

[Charoo]

Won’t play until after World Cup- ffs

[Attwood]

Shades of Richard Hall…