West Ham may have £20m Nayef Aguerd sellers remorse – here’s why
One of the big problems of West Ham’s 2025-26 season has been their defence.
Indeed, Nuno Espirito Santo‘s side have conceded 54 Premier League goals this season, with only 19th-placed Burnley (58) conceding more than West Ham.
Axel Disasi was brought in this winter to try and shore up the Hammers’ backline, but the Chelsea loanee has been inconsistent so far despite a strong showing against Fulham last time out.
Things haven’t been much better in attack either, with only 35 goals scored, but if the London Stadium is to be hosting Championship football next season, then their leaky defence is perhaps going to be the biggest reason why.
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Why West Ham may wish Nayef Aguerd didn’t join Marseille
After finishing 14th and shipping 62 goals in the Premier League last season, West Ham made some changes to their defensive unit in this season’s summer transfer window.
Emerson, Kurt Zouma, Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Creswell all left the Hammers on permanent deals, whilst Jean-Clair Todibo, Malick Diouf, Kyler Walker-Peters and Igor Julio all joined the club respectively.
There was one other defender who left West Ham for pastures new in the summer though, and that was centre-back Nayef Aguerd.
Having joined West Ham in the summer of 2022, the 29-year-old spent his first two seasons as a Hammer playing a sizeable role in the team, before spending last term on loan with Real Sociedad.
Returning back to the London Stadium this summer firmly down the pecking order, Aguerd left to join French Ligue 1 side Marseille in a reported £20million deal.
The Moroccan international has been in fine form during his debut season there too, perhaps leaving some West Ham decision-makers feeling a tinge of regret.
As per Sofascore, Aguerd is registering a superb 95 per cent passing accuracy inside his own half this season, whilst also making zero errors that have led to an opposition shot.
He’s also won 63 per cent of his aerial duels, received zero red cards, created one big chance and recovering an average of 4.6 balls per game.
Aguerd would walk into West Ham defence right now
Nuno would surely love to have a defender of Aguerd’s quality available to him for West Ham right now, as his current crop struggle to give him the solid platform to play from that he’s looking for.
Disasi is still finding his feet as a West Ham player, whilst Todibo is once again proving to be a good, but frustratingly inconsistent player for the Hammers.
Max Kilman is sure to leave this summer, whilst Konstantinos Mavropanos has had his injury problems, and has also struggled to remain consistent with his performances too.
So, whilst Aguerd wasn’t a standout performer during his time with West Ham either, he’d surely be one of the first names on the teamsheet in defence at the moment given the numbers he’s posting for Marseille.
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