An error from Nayef Aguerd and a missed penalty has sent Morocco out of AFCON and the linked-away defender back to West Ham.
With such focus on Mohammed Kudus at AFCON some West Ham fans may have forgotten Nayef Aguerd has been out there too.
Before Christmas it looked very likely that Aguerd may have played his last game for West Ham.
He made himself unavailable for West Ham due to illness for games over the festive period.
And he then jetted off to meet up with the Morocco squad for AFCON – with the Atlas Lions one of the favourites to go all the way.
Aguerd error sends Morocco out of AFCON
Aguerd has been linked with a move away to a host of clubs in France, Italy and Saudi Arabia. Even money bags PSG had been linked.
West Ham need to sell players to facilitate new signings. And as one of the Hammers’ more saleable assets, David Moyes was reportedly ‘happy’ to see leave Aguerd leave for the right price.
The Hammers have been linked with the likes of Max Kilman and Trevoh Chalobah as replacements.
And now an Aguerd error has sent Morocco out of AFCON and the linked-away defender back to West Ham.
Hammers fans tuning in to watch Morocco’s last 16 clash with South Africa would not have been too surprised to see an all too common Aguerd error cost his side dear.
Linked-away defender on his way back to West Ham
With South Africa posing no danger, Aguerd rushed out of position to try and intercept a pass into the South Africa forwards.
It is an awful trait he is all too guilty of when playing for West Ham too.
And it proved costly as he got nowhere near the ball, leaving a huge space in the centre of defence which South Africa exploited fully to go 1-0 up.
Morocco had the chance to equalise with a penalty on 82 minutes but PSG defender Achraf Hakimi hit the bar.
Man United flop Sofyan Amrabat was then sent off and South Africa added a second with a brilliant free-kick to send Aguerd back to West Ham.
Whether it has come too late for Aguerd to be sold remains to be seen.
But if not it will at least bolster Moyes’ squad further – most likely for the Man United game on Sunday at the earliest.
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