West Ham have been given a boost as manager David Moyes revealed defender Nayef Aguerd is hoping to step up his recovery next week.
Summer signing Aguerd, who moved to the Hammers for around £30million from Rennes, is still yet to make his debut for West Ham after suffering an ankle injury in pre-season against Rangers.
The centre-back has been gradually working on his fitness and Moyes gave a positive update on his recovery when speaking on Wednesday afternoon.
“Aguerd is beginning to make his way. He’s doing a bit on the grass,” said Moyes.
“I hope next week he can join bits of the football. He’s a pretty good specimen so he’s one I might try to push on quite quickly, but we need to get him some under-23 games and stuff like that.”
Aguerd’s return will be a major boost for West Ham and the player himself, as he is hoping to be fit to play for Morocco at the World Cup this winter.
The Hammers will have to cope without Aguerd for a little longer, though, including Thursday’s Europa Conference League clash with Anderlecht. Striker Michail Antonio is also a doubt for the game at the London Stadium due to illness and Maxwel Cornet has a calf issue.
“Maxwel had a small calf strain,” Moyes said. “I hope he’s going to be okay and hopefully it will be the middle of next week that we get him out on the grass.”
One centre-back who has returned to full fitness for West Ham is Angelo Ogbonna, after he suffered a serious knee injury at the start of last season.
“If you think of it, when we lost Angelo last season we were in the top three in the league and we probably had our best form in that period,” said Moyes.
“It was probably when we lost Angelo that it started to dip a bit. He gave us a balance at the time.
“It’s a big injury to come back from for any player, but for a 33-year-old it’s even tougher. He’s doing really well and he’s on course.
“I think he’s still probably got a bit more to go and these sorts of games have helped in terms of getting back into it. We’re trying to get him ready to help us in all of our games.”
