West Ham United: Nayef Aguerd in a lot of pain after incident v Bayer Leverkusen

Nayef Aguerd was in a lot of pain before he was substituted off shortly before half-time as West Ham drew 1-1 with Bayer Leverkusen at the London Stadium, according to Simon Stone.

The BBC Sport journalist shared the news via his X account as the defender went down following a blocked cross which caught him awkwardly, causing another injury blow.

Aguerd has struggled with injury issues having been in and out of the team at the London Stadium as a result and could now be facing another spell on the sidelines.

Nayef Aguerd suffers injury blow in West Ham v Bayer Leverkusen

Both Aguerd and the Hammers' fans will be hoping it was a contact injury rather than anything serious after the ball struck the defender's ankle, but the way he was lying on the floor before having to come off minutes later does not look good.

It seems that every time the Moroccan gets back to full fitness and makes his way into the side, he suffers another setback to his fitness through no direct fault of his own.

Kurt Zouma and Konstantinos Mavropanos have been the first-choice defensive partnership at the London Stadium despite their inconsistency and constant mistakes for the pair, with Mavropanos in particular attracting heavy scrutiny over his performances.

The Hammers have been told signing a new centre-back should be their main priority in the summer transfer window with the likes of Harry Maguire linked with the move thanks in part to Aguerd's unreliability while his teammates have struggled.

In other West Ham news, read our player ratings v Bayer Leverkusen.

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