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."

[Pav BML]

"Not good enough defensively, struggles with strong strikers. Found the Liverpool links amusing, must have seen a few clips of him spraying a few passes around and the tackle on Wilson on repeat"

[Willtell]

I wonder what Mavropanos thinks he has to do to get a start with a cripple and an error prone CB are still keeping him out the side?

[goose]

Zouma made things far too easy for Watkins on the 3rd goal. Aguerd partly culpable for the 4th. Zouma appears to be crippled again. He was moving like a 70 year old.

[kylay]

Thought Zouma had a much worse game yesterday. Usually Zouma is better though. Looked lost against Watkins

[scott_d]

No answer for Antonio? I reckon Danny Ings would have offered us more playing the full 90 yesterday and that is saying something. Not to mention Kudus and Mubama.

[Eerie Descent]

"Proof if anyone needed it, the site plank thinks our centre half was fine in a 4-1 mauling."

[twoleftfeet]

"Aguerd was fine yesterday, can't fault him for any of the goals. Get him alongside the Greek."

[Eerie Descent]

"Antonio I agree, there's fuck all we can do, but this lad simply needs to be dropped, then sold to the Saudi's at the first chance, where we might be able to get the bulk of our money back, if we're lucky. Saying that, I'd be playing him left back in Europe to see if he's good enough there, in prep for the next Prem game, as Emerson is banned."

[Manuel]

"Sure, part of the reason why it's hard to see the answer is because of Moyes. I do wonder how well this fella was scouted, did he have a good rep in France? Were other clubs interested? Even when he has a decent game, he doesn't stand out. We need better, end of. I will never understand why we didn't get Tarkowski, was heavily linked and would have been perfect for us, I didn't buy he didn't want to leave the north, but could be true I suppose."

[fraser]

"What's the answer? Same as Antonio, don't have a scooby. Manuel = David Moyes :-)"

[Manuel]

"Fully agree that you can't have a 'confidence' player at CB, it's ludicrous. Their positions are too important, hence why the likes of Maguire and Mings get so much grief as mistakes are punished. What's the answer? Same as Antonio, don't have a scooby."

[Eerie Descent]

"We lost 4-1 Ross, it's fair to say the whole back 4 weren't very good, Emerson being the best of a bad bunch, he's been our most consistent player this season."

[Rossal]

was he awful yesterday? only seen the highlights but don't see him at fault for any of the goals

[Eerie Descent]

"No team in the world can have the luxury of having 'confidence' players at centre back. That should be reserved for talented attacking players, you want consistency at the back over everything else. We payed £35mil for this lad, that is massive money for teams at our level, and he's been a shocking signing so far. Moyes ain't going anywhere, so he has to adapt, personally I can't see it but I was told on here he will prove he is world class, so fingers crossed."

[zico]

"Aguerd looks to e like a confidence player and just seems to struggle positionally at times. Zouma almost looked too heavy yesterday and was found ""lumbering"" back too often. Mav should be given a chance."

[Russ of the BML]

I'm really not sure how to judge any defenders under Moyes. When you set up to defend for a whole game and try and nick something on the break or from a set-piece you are just asking for trouble. It's like putting more and more weight on a glass table. At some point it shatters. Defenders don't actually like defending. They'd rather not be. And then when they are needed they step into action. Moyes almost asks his defenders to defend continuously. So I just don't know how you judge.

[Manuel]

"I would definitely leave him out next week, but I don't think their last goal was a ''mistake'' by Aguerd, he just got turned inside out by a forward, you see it all the time, even more so at the end of games. Zouma was no better today. This two team bollocks in the PL and Europe is fucking nauseating imo, you know who won't play in the league if they are lining up against shit in Europe. Not sure what Dinos makes of it all, not to mention Kudus."

[Eerie Descent]

"Yeah, well done."

[happygilmore]

"Well done, Son....well done!"

[happygilmore]

"Well done, Son....well done!"

[nerd]

"Zouma is at fault for nunes goal ,agued has salah in front, nunes beside and zouma marking no one"

[CanningTownWA]

"He has had enough chances but is still costing us at least every few games. Good passer but not PL standard defender, time for the Greek to be given a go."

[Mex Martillo]

"On the whole, I still consider Aguerd to be a good player. He is definitely the style for the future. Zouma is too old school for me."

[Hammer and Pickle]

"I happen to think they do, Twundle. Meanwhile, what do you say? This is a thread about the West Ham United centre back Nayef Aguerd, a player that tends to find himself making errors that seem glaring given his obvious skill level. The question is, do you find any understanding for him given he is playing in a Moyes team or would you rather just pass yourself off as ""knowing football"" by indulging in a bit of slagging?"

[goose]

"""The player is of course left drained of resources and the likelihood of him ever cutting out the errors in question is severely diminished. It's actually a form of abuse"" what the actual fuck? what resources do you think would be needed to stop Aguerd making basic errors?"