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."

[BRANDED]

The header was infinitely worse than anything Micky didnt do. It destroyed morale. It had nothing to do with him bring left or right footed. Of course he’ll get over it. Hes a fucking professional for gods sake. Just another poor bit of play this season.

[,]

"I don’t think that Aguerd cost us the match. The unfortunate own goal was the first we have conceded from a corner in more than something over 100 games. The trend in the game was that we were pinned back and defending more and more as it wore on. At best we could possibly made it into injury time. We were not let down by our defence it was, as ever, our inability to convert chances."

[Eerie Descent]

''Yeah agree perspective needed and trying not to over react' The perspective that was needed was when everyone was labelling him the second coming of Bobby Moore after 2 games.

[Russ of the BML]

"I saw enough of Aguerd in the WC and from the games he's played for us that he is a class player. Has not put a foot wrong before Man Utd game. Yes, he had a terrible night but he's only human. I also have seen enough of him to know he's got bollocks and a back-bone. You don't play for that current Morocco side without being brave and having a back-bone. Their current coach demands it from them and you won't get selected if you hide. He will be hurting. He'll have analysed those goals and will know more than anyone where he went wrong. But he won't let one poxy night affect him. He seems to me to be the type of player that won't be afraid of the next game but we'll be urging it to arrive so he can make amends. That's why I think he'll be our captain when Rice leaves."

[Manuel]

"Stevethehammer - Agree, he seems a top pro, puts high demands on himself, and will be hurting after Wednesday. Will be interesting tomorrow to see how he reacts."

[Stevethehammer]

Aguerd strikes me as the type of player who will bounce back from his performance on Wednesday night. Here's hoping anyways

[Stevethehammer]

Aguerd strikes me as the type of player who will bounce back from his performance on Wednesday night. Here's hoping anyways

[Sir Alf]

Yeah agree perspective needed and trying not to over react. Aguerd made a few mistakes in the last minutes of one game and hence very noticeable and obviously prime candidate for being the scapegoat. If Antonio had not been so selfish we are 2 up and arguably the game would have taken a different route? Judge a player over a lot of games and especially first season and he had no preseason. Most games he’s been excellent so this imo was one of those games ( hopefully ). Kehrer is an example of mistakes every game and probably will be some asap. Aguerd is a great signing and will prove so longer term. I will be happy to be caned if wrong :-)

[Sir Alf]

Yeah agree perspective needed and trying not to over react. Aguerd made a few mistakes in the last minutes of one game and hence very noticeable and obviously prime candidate for being the scapegoat. If Antonio had not been so selfish we are 2 up and arguably the game would have taken a different route? Judge a player over a lot of games and especially first season and he had no preseason. Most games he’s been excellent so this imo was one of those games ( hopefully ). Kehrer is an example of mistakes every game and probably will be some asap. Aguerd is a great signing and will prove so longer term. I will be happy to be caned if wrong :-)

[Rossal]

"Fuck me name me a player that doesnt make mistakes.....especially centre halfs Yes Dawson had a few mistakes, if he didnt he would of been worth close to £80M and playing in the champions league! But he was superb for us on the whole, put himself in the team and stayed there on merit. Some of you lot narf have very short memories"

[Ron Eff]

"All this talk of Dawson being Mr Consistent and not making huge errors. What about Newcastle away a couple of years back when he managed to give a goal away AND get a 2nd yellow card with a ridiculously rash challenge in the same moment. A good player for his price tag, but many do overrate him. He’s already made a couple of mistakes for Wolves, too."

[paulon]

"Nick QQQ 7:19 Thu Mar 2 This 100%. A site full of needy attention seeking fuckwits looking to score points on the internet, most of them don’t give a fuck if West Ham lose - it’s all about points scoring over people they’ve never met or never will meet. How fucking pathetic is that?"

[El Scorchio]

"Sure- because he meant to put it in his own net, didn't he... Aguerd was in a horrible situation. If he didn't get something on it then one of their players would have. No choice but to try and head it clear. Why was he in that situation? Because Areola made a pathetic attempt to get to a ball which should have been his all day long- no more than 3-4 yards out from the goal line in the middle of his six yard box. That should have been the goalkeeper's all day long. he's sold Aguerd up the river there."

[Nick QQQ]

"Some “fans” on here crack me up. Haven’t got a proper clue who someone is before they join us, try to be the first to tell you he’s a shit signing and then literally wait for a bad game to jump on here and say I told you so. Fucking weird. Same bunch on Scamacca thread calling him the new Haller. Can’t imagine how this plays into real life for three people but can’t imagine they are much fun to be around."

[BRANDED]

"Oh, and Aguerd would agree with me. He fucked up big time and it destroyed our confidence."

[BRANDED]

Scorch I'd say the primary goal of a defender is to defend the goal not attack it beautifully with a perfect striking header.

[Westham67]

ATHammer 6:01 Thu Mar 2 That is Mnoyes biggest attribute is playing players in the wrong position and the they become to shit. Anderson is doing well now as are Vlasic and Haller a tidy amount of money lost

[El Scorchio]

BRANDED 6:01 I say 'the internet' as who knows if it's 100% accurate when you look up stuff like that. Anyway that ball should have been Areola's all day long. He completely messed it up.

[ATHammer]

"Good player, bad game. Happens. As for Dawson. He exceeded expectations including probably his own. He was great for us but did have one or two rotters. Overall happy he was here and wish him well. Aguerd is more of a finesse player but, as usual, Moyes does not play to his strengths. ""He struggled on the right"", no shit sherlock he was brought in to play on the left, being left footed. May have been of necessity last night but I can't see a trend of him becoming shit."

[BRANDED]

"Scorch. Its not the Internet, it was me asking the question. I then went and checked and was surprised by what I found. So his hight gained him enough advantage to glance it into his own net. My mistake"

[El Scorchio]

"If the internet is to be believed, Aguerd is 6'2 not a giant but by no means a dwarf of a CB. Ogbonna same height and Zouma 6'3. Perfectly acceptable unless they are playing against giants week in week out, which they aren't. All of them are taller than Dawson, apparently. Worth noting that being 5'9 hasn't stopped Martinez playing for Ajax, Man U and winning a World Cup Winner's medal."

[Rossal]

"""Dawson was not a good player"" Not true, he was superb for us. That first season people were talking about gatecrashing the England squad. He was a no nonsense good defender in that spell who was scoring goals from set pieces. Him going isnt the reason we've improved at all, our problem this season has been attacking not defending."

[Hammer and Pickle]

"Kehrer is an odd one; there is no doubting his technical skills are on the level however, all too often, he just seems bamboozled by either the man or the ball and, at times, disastrously both. While he isn't as bad in this respect as Cresswell, he really has a lot to learn from a master like Rice. Such a shame Rice gave up after their first went in yesterday - his anticipation up till then was a masterclass."

[Huffers]

"Dawson was not a good player. His goals are what made people’s mind up. He is lovely as 4th choice but seemed to always be in the team. Shocking distribution which invited pressure back on. No faulting his effort and willingness to get stuck in at all, but not a good player. Doesn’t surprise me that our results have improved with him gone (and Kehrer who is even worse) and our performances have got slightly better too."

[BRANDED]

"Far Cough 1:08 Thu Mar 2 Re: Nayef Aguerd - signed (30m) When analysing any player you cant take away their physical attributes. If opposing players are bigger, faster or have more endurance then you might be at a disadvantage. I keep thinking we look smaller in certain areas than a lot of other teams however I haven't actually gone and checked tights of the players so I wonder if anyone can confirm?"