After leaving West Ham United in the final hours of the summer transfer window, Marseille’s £17.5 million deadline day signing Nayef Aguerd hoped that his luck would turn.
Aguerd underwent ankle surgery immediately after joining West Ham from Rennes in the summer of 2022. A La Liga loan spell with Real Sociedad last season was also brought to a premature conclusion due to fitness problems.
So the last thing Nayef Aguerd wanted, with the World Cup looming and Marseille’s Champions League hopes on the line, is to wake up in a hospital bed before taking to social media to inform fans about his latest operation.
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A man initially revived after bringing an end to his underwhelming spell at West Ham United, Morocco international Aguerd faces a race against time with the World Cup kicking off in just three months.
West Ham United flop Nayef Aguerd suffers Marseille injury
Aguerd has come under fire at Marseille recently as another promising campaign threatens to implode at this most combustible of clubs. Poor displays which may be explained by the fact that Aguerd, as he himself admits, has been playing through the pain barrier for the last five months.
“Since October, I’ve been suffering from pain that has become a constant part of my daily life,” the 29-year-old writes on Instagram. “From waking up until going to bed, and sometimes even during the night, it had become permanent.
“Despite all the medical protocols put in place in recent months, it was unfortunately no longer enough. Surgery therefore became inevitable.”
After going under the knife to correct a long-standing pubalgia problem, Aguerd is just hoping he will be back in time to help Marseille secure a top-four berth.
“This decision should have been made a while ago, but I wanted to continue and explore the best possible solutions before reaching this point,” he says.
“Now, it’s time for rest and recovery. I hope to be ready in time to help Olympique de Marseille during the final sprint of the season, this time at 100 per cent pain-free.”
Stats show the difference between Axel Disasi and Aguerd
Aguerd has started 16 Ligue 1 matches following his return to French football. In September, the West Ham misfit scored the winner against Paris Saint-Germain, ensuring L’OM would defeat their Clasique rivals at the Stade Velodrome for the first time since 2011.
His old employers in East London have injury concerns of their own right now.
Crysencio Summerville is unavailable for West Ham ahead of Saturday’s 8pm kick-off against Manchester City. Adama Traore is likely to replace Summerville for the visit of Pep Guardiola’s side.
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And while it took Marseille 15 years to beat PSG on home soil, West Ham have not defeated City in a Premier League match since Victor Moses and Diafra Sakho scored at the Etihad Stadium in 2015.
Transformative January signing Axel Disasi has what it takes to shackle Erling Haaland, though. The City striker was handled beautifully by the Chelsea loanee during what was arguably Disasi’s best performance this side of the Channel back in February 2024.
While the sample size is still extremely small, West Ham have accumulated clean sheets in 60 per cent of their games with Disasi compared to 24 per cent with Aguerd.
Disasi’s points per game tally [1.6 v 1.2] and goals conceded per game tally [1.4 v 1.6] is also vastly superior to one of his Hammers predecessors.
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