West Ham United are reportedly closing in on the signing of Rennes defender Nayef Aguerd in a move said to be worth £30million.
According to The Sun, David Moyes’ side, who have reached the qualifying rounds of next season’s Europa Conference League, are currently finalising the final details of a move for the 19-time Moroccan international centre-back, who has also played as a left-back.
Aguerd helped Rennes reach the group stages of the Europa League in the 2021/22 season, finishing fourth in Ligue 1 table and just three points shy of the Champions League places. The report claims that last summer, West Ham moved to sign Aguerd but Rennes refused to sell the 26-year-old.
In the 2021/22 season, where West Ham finished seventh in the Premier League table and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League, Moyes’ side had issues on a regular occurrence in the middle of defence.
Italian Angelo Ogbonna missed most of the campaign after suffering a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury in November. Frenchman Kurt Zouma also had two spells of absence through injury, while compatriot Issa Diop struggled for form, leading to Craig Dawson having to sometimes play without being fully fit to make up the numbers.
Aguerd could earn his 20 th international cap in the early hours of Thursday morning when the USA take on Morocco in an international friendly. The defender has played every minute of Morocco’s last seven international matches, including all of Aguerd’s nation’s matches at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, where the Atlas Lions reached the quarter-finals before losing to Egypt on penalties.
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Should West Ham get through their play-off round qualifier for next season’s Europa Conference League in August, Aguerd would add good experience to the side in that competition.
The centre-back played and scored in both legs of their qualifying round win over Rosenborg and played in all seven of Rennes’ games in the competition that saw him take on both Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City.
In his two years in Rennes, Aguerd has played 80 times in all competitions, with 66 of those outings coming in Ligue 1. Of his seven goals for the club, five have come in his top-flight appearances for the club currently managed by Bruno Genesio.
West Ham will be looking to add further depth and quality to their squad this summer following back-to-back top seven finishes in the Premier League in the last two seasons.
Former Manchester United loanee Jesse Lingard has been heavily linked with a return to the London Stadium after a successful spell there on loan in the second half of the 2020/21 season.
Mark Noble, Andriy Yarmolenko, David Martin and Ryan Fredericks will however not be in next season’s squad, with all four leaving east London at the end of their contracts this summer.
