Nayef Aguerd hopes to get more game time before this year’s World Cup after making his West Ham United debut following three months out through injury.
The Moroccan had to wait a long time to make his first Hammers appearance after suffering an ankle injury shortly after his £30million summer arrival from Stade Rennais. Aguerd finally made his first competitive start for the Irons on Thursday night in their Europa Conference League win against Silkeborg on Thursday night.
“I’m very happy,” said the West Ham defender post-match. “I’ve waited three months because of the injury. Unfortunately, injuries are part of a player’s career but I’m very happy I got to play in front of the fans.”
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The Hammers managed to seal top spot in Group B of the Europa Conference League thanks to Manuel Lanzini’s first-half penalty. Moyes’ boys head straight into the Round of 16 in March and have to wait until February 24 to find out their opponents.
West Ham have now have five fixtures to fulfill before the World Cup break in November. A final Europa Conference League group game versus FCSB in Bucharest and a Carabao Cup clash against Blackburn Rovers are amongst three Premier League fixtures against Manchester United (away), Crystal Palace and Leicester City (both home).
Now that he has returned from injury, Aguerd is setting his sights on a spot in Morocco’s World Cup squad, with the Atlas Lions set to face Croatia, Belgium and Canada in Group F. The 26-year-old defender has also set himself a target with West Ham.
Aguerd told The Athletic: “When you’re injured, you can’t train, you can’t be out with the lads, so it’s very hard. I always had confidence and I kept working hard from the first day I was in the gym.
“It was hard psychologically and maybe I’m bot 100% fit. [But] if the team needs me this Sunday (against Man United), I will play. I’m here to give my maximum so let’s see.
“I’m here to impress the team and this is what I happened to do before I suffered the injury in pre-season. But I want to thank everyone at the club because they helped me a lot. Being in a new country and missing training, it was very hard. But today I’m very happy and want to thank the medical team.
“I have the World Cup in my mind but my plan was to play for West Ham first to show my quality. Let’s see what happens next. If the team needs me, I will play. I played 75 minutes [against Silkeborg] so the next target is to play 90 minutes.
“I don’t like to talk about myself. I know what I can bring and the club signed me because of what I can offer. I’m here to win, help the team and we have a lot of good players. So I’m just enjoying the moment.”
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