Nayef Aguerd has been spotted in Morocco as the team gets a heroes’ welcome while West Ham sweat on his availability for Arsenal.
West Ham’s £30m summer signing Aguerd was one of the standout defensive stars of the World Cup during Morocco’s astonishing run to the semi-finals.
Hammers hearts were in mouths when Aguerd went down injured at the end of his country’s last 16 win over Spain.
The West Ham man left the field in tears and was missing for the quarter-final win over Portugal.
It was then reported that the centre-back had suffered a low grade thigh tear which would keep him out for around three weeks.
But he was surprisingly named in Morocco’s starting line-up for their semi-final against France only to pull out in the warm-up.
The question on everyone’s lips back at West Ham has been whether Aguerd will be available to face Arsenal when the Premier League resumes on Boxing Day evening.
There was talk Aguerd would be back at Rush Green on Tuesday or Wednesday to start preparing for West Ham’s big London derby – if fit to play of course.
Now Aguerd has been spotted in Morocco as the team gets a heroes’ welcome while West Ham sweat on his availability for Arsenal.
Video shows Aguerd and his Morocco teammates arriving in Rabat on Tuesday evening to legions of fans waiting to applaud their historic efforts.
West Ham’s left-footed centre-back is seen donning suit and shades as they took to an open-top bus for a parade through Rabat.
They are taking a 7km journey to the Royal Palace for an evening reception.
Aguerd and his teammates certainly deserve it.
But from a West Ham perspective it does mean the earliest David Moyes could realistically expect him back in training is Thursday – at a push – or Friday.
With Kurt Zouma out until mid-January, the Hammers could certainly do with a boost in the shape of Aguerd.
But the Arsenal game certainly looks like it will be touch and go at the time of writing.
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