Declan Rice has hailed Nayef Aguerd after the West Ham United defender put in a ‘massive’ performance for Morocco against Spain.
Hammers fans will have had one eye on Aguerd on Tuesday night as he lined up in the heart of Morocco’s defence.
Aguerd and co turned in a battling performance to take the game to penalties – and Spain fell apart.
Three saves from Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou sent Morocco through with Achraf Hakimi scoring a cheeky panenka to secure the win.
Declan Rice has hailed Nayef Aguerd
Aguerd was a rock in Morocco’s back line before having to go off injured.
West Ham will be worried about that injury but they certainly won’t be concerned with the level of his performance in Qatar.
Aguerd notched four clearances, one tackle and one successful aerial duel whilst being adept at playing out from the back.
The 26-year-old proved to be a tough nut to crack for Spain and helped Morocco keep a third clean sheet in four World Cup games.
The summer signing from Rennes has yet to start a Premier League game for West Ham.
Aguerd picked up an injury in pre-season and was able to make his league debut as a substitute against Leicester City before the World Cup.
The hope was that Aguerd would be ready to start against Arsenal on Boxing Day, when West Ham return to Premier League action.
That injury will now leave West Ham a little worried and Morocco will pray that their star centre back returns for the quarter-final clash with Portugal.
West Ham teammate Declan Rice was certainly watching Aguerd in action on Tuesday and took to Instagram to send him a message.
‘Massive performance my brother’ stated Rice, who was clearly impressed with what he saw from the centre back.
Rice will know Aguerd from training but will now be looking forward to seeing him start Premier League games, no doubt hoping that he can bring that Morocco form to England.
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