Morocco boss Walid Regragui has delivered a huge update on West Ham star Nayef Aguerd after his late withdrawal and it is great news.
Aguerd missed Morocco’s historic last eight victory over Portugal at the weekend and was said to be out for around three weeks after suffering a low grade thigh tear against Spain.
The £30m West Ham summer signing left the pitch in tears and there were initial concerns he could be out for months.
Thankfully for the Hammers a prognosis of one to three weeks out was given as a more likely timescale for Aguerd’s injury.
That almost certainly meant the end of Aguerd’s World Cup, though, with the defender remaining in Qatar to support his teammates.
But there was a huge shock for West Ham and Morocco fans – and undoubtedly David Moyes and his medical team too – when the centre-back was named in the starting line-up for the Atlas Lions’ huge semi-final clash with France on Wednesday night.
Reports on the injury prior to the game suggest that Aguerd’s thigh tear could be made worse if the defender was risked too soon – potentially doubling his time on the sidelines to six weeks.
So when he pulled out of the match during the warm-up, there was understandably major concern at West Ham.
Aguerd was taken out of the starting line-up as Morocco went on to put up a brave showing in a 2-0 defeat to Alphonse Areola’s France.
But Morocco boss Regragui has delivered a huge update on West Ham star Aguerd after his late withdrawal and it is great news.
Because Regragui has confirmed it was illness rather than an aggravation of his injury that saw Aguerd pulled out at the 11th hour.
“Nayef was recovering from flu and wanted to play as well, I thought it was best to play with three defenders so they didn’t have too much to run at…” Regragui told The Independent.
“I have no regrets about the decision. Nayef’s absence was difficult and all of these little things meant we got off to quite a poor start, you learn from your mistakes, I do as well. If all our squad was fit we could have caused them even more problems.”
The news comes as a massive relief for West Ham, who will reportedly be missing Kurt Zouma until at least January 14th.
Because if it was just a bout of flu keeping Aguerd out then, all being well, that should mean he will be fit for West Ham when they face league leaders Arsenal on Boxing Day evening.
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