Scare: Jarrod Bowen
(Picture: Getty Images)David Moyes praised Nayef Aguerd’s long-awaited West Ham debut but revealed Jarrod Bowen is an injury concern ahead of Sunday’s trip to Manchester United.
Bowen was left out of the squad for Thursday night’s 1-0 victory over Silkeborg at the London Stadium, which secured top spot in Group B and ensured they will qualify directly into the last-16 in March, avoiding a knockout playoff.
“Jarrod had a bit of an ankle injury,” Moyes said. “I will asses it tomorrow, see how he is. I don’t think it’s too bad but we will see tomorrow.”
Aguerd, meanwhile, was handed a first competitive start since joining the club in a £28million deal from Rennes in the summer.
The Moroccan international had been pencilled in as a key part of Moyes’ revamp of his squad, but suffered an ankle injury in a preseason friendly against Rangers in July and has been sidelined since.
“He’s a really good athlete, in good shape but he still hasn’t got any match practice, hasn’t been involved in an awful lot of physicality,” Moyes said. “The game worked out very good for him, the type of game it was.
"He controlled the game, passed it well, got into a couple of races which he showed he’s capable of and it was a really good game for him. Hopefully that’s the start for him.”
Aguerd lasted 76 minutes before being replaced by Thilo Kehrer and is expected to get another chance to impress when the Hammers go away to FCSB next week in what is now a dead-rubber.
Moyes has previously suggested the Moroccan is unlikely to feature in the Premier League this side of the World Cup and once again voiced his reluctance to rush the defenders comeback.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to do that with him yet, no,” he added, when asked whether he could at least be on the bench for Sunday's trip to Old Trafford. “I think that I want to give him the chance to come back. I want to put him back and I want people to see exactly what he is and I just want to be as ready as I can.
"That’s his first game in I don’t know, three months, he came back in pre-season and went out in the [second] game so he’s probably not played any football for the best part of five or six months. I’m not going to be putting any time on it, I’m not going to say it’s so many games, I think it’s us just getting him ready. He’s going to the World Cup with Morocco which will help us I think because he’ll play for Morocco."
