Injury insider Ben Dinnery has claimed that West Ham’s Nayef Aguerd could be in line for a return to action next month.
The Moroccan joined the Hammers in June on a five-year deal but is yet to make his competitive debut for the club.
Following his £30m arrival from Rennes, the 26-year-old centre-back found himself quickly sidelined after hobbling off in a pre-season friendly against Rangers.
Aguerd was forced to undergo surgery on his ankle as a result but is now believed to be ‘out of his (protective) boot’, with Dinnery now detailing what is next for the defender in his rehabilitation programme.
Speaking to Football Insider, the medical expert said: “This will be a gradual transition. It won’t be a case of one minute being in the boot and the next minute he’s out. He’ll have been doing sessions and working on the anti-gravity treadmill.
“The next phase of this recovery, you want to recapture strength and mobility. You’re going to be out on the grass doing some straight line running and then hopefully incorporating some twisting and turning and eventually some ball work.
“It’s activity-based, so we aren’t really bound by specific timelines. But you would hope he could progress pretty quickly and he can be in contention for a start for West Ham at some point next month.”
Moyes must want him back soon
With just one clean sheet in six Premier League games to start the season, you would expect that David Moyes is keen to get the Morocco international into the team.
Compared stylistically to Virgil van Dijk and Gerard Pique for his statistical profile by FBRef, the 6 ft 1 defender was pivotal to a Rennes side which finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season, starting 31 top-flight games and posting a 7.05 average match rating (SofaScore) which saw him ranked sixth in the squad.
That average was bettered only by Jarrod Bowen (7.09) and Declan Rice (7.19) at West Ham in the 2021/22 Premier League campaign, and calling upon an accomplished performer such as Aguerd could help to steady the ship after a rocky start to the campaign for the Irons, domestically at least.
