As the Saudi Arabian transfer window closed earlier this month, West Ham was left with a critical choice to make about Nayef Aguerd.
According to reports at the time, Al-Ittihad made an ambitious late offer to acquire the center defender, who would receive compensation 10 times higher than his present salary [Goal, 4 September].
The Athletic [11 September] later reported that in addition to the Premier League quartet of Manchester City, Liverpool, and Newcastle United inquiring about his availability, two European suitors had also expressed interest.
After a sluggish maiden season at the London Stadium, it is obvious that Aguerd was in demand.
However, the Morocco international’s stock isn’t quite as high five games into the 2023–24 season, or four in the case of Aguerd owing to a ban.
Indeed, according to Claret & Hugh [17 September], West Ham are already accepting offers for Aguerd that are in the neighborhood of £50 million when the season ends.
This follows the 27-year-old’s “poor” blunder that led to Man City’s second goal in their 3-1 victory at the London Stadium on Saturday [16 September], which David Moyes deemed to be the player’s mistake.
Even if it wasn’t as blunt as it was in this instance, Moyes has already criticized Aguerd for what on the surface seems to be a rather frightening slide.
This can be seen in the statistics, which show that Aguerd is committing more mistakes per 90 minutes (0.27 v 0.11) and winning less tackles per 90 minutes (0.27 v 1.02) in the Premier League this year compared to last.
Although the sample size of four games is too small to draw any firm conclusions, Moyes will undoubtedly be aware of this concerning pattern.
Konstantinos Mavropanos was brought in as insurance during the summer, so it’s possible that the Greek defender will make an immediate impact alongside captain Kurt Zouma.
Aguerd will hopefully get back to his best, but United cannot afford for him to perform like that again.
