West Ham United ‘won’t be at all happy’ about Nayef Aguerd to Liverpool speculation
West Ham “will not be at all happy” with fresh rumours linking Nayef Aguerd with a move to Manchester City and Liverpool, according to The Telegraph reporter Luke Edwards.
Aguerd remained at the London Stadium last week despite reported interest from Saudi Arabia, but he has now emerged as a target for Premier League heavyweights City and Liverpool [The Sun].
Edwards can understand why Liverpool in particular are showing an interest in the Morocco international ahead of the January transfer window.
“The next stage of Jurgen Klopp’s team rebuild will be defence,” he told BBC Sport’s Football Gossip Daily [11 September]. “I’ve been really impressed with Aguerd since he arrived from Rennes for £30million in the summer of 2022.
“He’s been one of West Ham’s outstanding players and has taken to the Premier League in a way that a lot of foreign centre-backs don’t do.
“I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Liverpool are interested. Manchester City I’m a little bit surprised about.
“West Ham won’t be at all happy about this whole rumour starting in September. They’ve just lost Declan Rice to Arsenal. That will be my caveat really – West Ham will be under no pressure to sell after receiving £105m for Declan Rice.”
Here we go again
Some rumours have to be dismissed the second they emerge, but that does not appear to be the case with this one.
Liverpool are clearly in need of freshening up in the heart of defence, and there are not many better ready-made options out there than Aguerd.
The 27-year-old will not come cheap, having set United back £30m a little over a year ago and only increased his valuation since then.
The good news for West Ham fans is that The Athletic reported on Monday [11 September] that Aguerd has already made it clear he intends to stay at the London Stadium.
Should the interest from Liverpool develop into anything more concrete as we edge towards January, then it would certainly make things interesting.
It is a distraction David Moyes could do without, although as this summer’s transfer business goes to show, any player can be successfully replaced with some smart recruitment.
In other West Ham news, the Irons should consider offering Aguerd fresh terms in order to fend off the interest from elsewhere.