West Ham have just got their £30m Ferrari Nayef Aguerd out of the garage and he’s absolutely unreal in a classy debut.
Let’s start with a disclaimer; Silkeborg are nowhere near the level of opposition West Ham will face in the Premier League.
But the Danes gave the Hammers a tough game in the reverse fixture and scored 10 goals in two games against FCSB.
Another drab match at the London Stadium saw the Hammers run out 1-0 winners over Silkeborg and seal their place in the last 16.
If the match was notable for anything, it was the performance of one man supporters and boss David Moyes have been particularly anxious to see.
Moyes revealed that Aguerd, who has been out since suffering a serious ankle injury in pre-season, was set for a long-awaited competitive debut against Silkeborg.
And while there will be much stiffer tests to come, my goodness the Hammers have a player on their hands here.
Aguerd was Moyes’s first signing of the summer window and he admitted this week he had been trying to sign the Moroccan defender for the last two years.
He eventually got his man from Rennes and we’ve all had to be patient to get a proper look at him. Well it was worth the wait.
West Ham have just got their £30m Ferrari Nayef Aguerd out of the garage and he’s absolutely unreal
West Ham have just got their £30m Ferrari Aguerd out of the garage and he’s absolutely unreal.
If this is Aguerd at half pace, after over three months out, then wow.
The 6ft 5in left-footed centre-back looked a class apart all night and lasted an impressive 75 minutes.
West Ham were rarely threatened on the night but Aguerd was so stylish, so elegant, so sure-footed he looked as though he could have played at the back all on his own and coped perfectly fine.
There were a few moments where Silkeborg tried through passes into space for their attackers to sprint after.
Aguerd was gliding across the turf in second gear and any time he was even remotely under pressure he just stepped on the gas enough to cruise away from the opposition.
The 26-year-old was totally unflustered and unruffled and the reception he got before the game and on being substituted suggests West Ham fans know they’ve got a real player.
Indeed the reception he got from his teammates as he left the London Stadium pitch to rapturous applause suggests his teammates know it too.
His slick, precise passing from that cultured left-foot out of central defence is just what West Ham have been missing.
I suspect we won’t see much of Aguerd in the Premier League until after the World Cup – it just isn’t worth the risk for the player or West Ham.
But when he does come into the main side it is surely only a matter of time until he emerges as a real Premier League star.
Moyes has got his Ferrari out of the garage and he’s already purring.
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