West Ham United frustrations touted over Nayef Aguerd absence ahead of AFCON
Those in charge at West Ham United may be frustrated if Nayef Aguerd remains unavailable for the Hammers’ next two games but travels to the African Cup of Nations, according to Claret and Hugh.
The outlet reported on its website on Wednesday (27 December) that the Moroccan defender has reportedly recovered well from the flu bug that has made its way through the Irons’ camp, but remains unlikely to feature against Arsenal.
West Ham’s hope is that the centre-back is not attempting to save himself for Morocco’s AFCON campaign which begins in January but it remains to be seen whether or not he will make himself available either against Arsenal or Brighton.
If Aguerd misses both Premier League clashes, but suddenly returns to fitness to join up with his national side, eyebrows will likely be raised among those in charge at the London Stadium.
The Hammers may well be willing to let Aguerd move on should any buying club manage to offer a fee close to the £30million they initially spent to bring him to East London from Rennes in 2022.
Keep an eye
It does seem interesting that almost all the West Ham players initially impacted by this sickness bug that swept through the club have managed to return to full fitness, but Aguerd remains on the sidelines with no definitive return date.
Aguerd may just have been more affected by the illness than other players in David Moyes’ squad and could well be taking a bit longer to get back to match fitness, but the timing does seem slightly suspicious considering the AFCON is just around the corner.
If the Moroccan international suddenly rediscovers his fitness when he has to make the trip to the African Cup of Nations, then questions will have to be asked and those in charge at West Ham may well be irritated.
But until then, it seems slightly unfair to jump to conclusions over Aguerd’s intentions, especially when considering that for large parts of this season, he has been one of the Hammers’ better defenders.
In other West Ham news, Atalanta are testing the waters over a potential January transfer for Irons defender Thilo Kehrer