Nayef Aguerd Getting Back to His Best at Real Sociedad
It has been two years since Nayef Aguerd flourished in the FIFA World Cup for Morocco, leading them to an unprecedented semifinals finish. This tournament helped him earn a €35 million move to West Ham, where he struggled to convince. By the time the 2024/25 season rolled around, Aguerd found himself surplus to requirements under new manager Julen Lopetegui.
Desperate for opportunities, Aguerd elected to leave East London for San Sebastián, joining Real Sociedad on loan. Bit by bit, Aguerd has rediscovered his mojo under Imanol Alguacil, displaying his quality in LaLiga and the UEFA Europa League and helping to fill Robin Le Normand’s void following the Spaniard’s departure to Atlético Madrid. Today, we’re putting the microscope on Aguerd’s stellar campaign in the Basque Country.
Name: Nayef Aguerd
Position: Center Back
Country: Morocco
Age: 28
Height: 191cm
Preferred Foot: Left
Aguerd began his career in Morocco in Académie Mohammed VI before joining FUS Rabat for €15k where he spent five years. His first adventure in Europe was in Dijon FCO who spent €1.6 million for his services, and two years later, he left to join Stade Rennais for €4 million. After two seasons in Brittany, Aguerd decided to depart France and join West Ham. However, after failing to convince in England, he’s now plying his trade in Spain for Real Sociedad.
Forward Passing
Forward passes are crucial for center-backs as they are the ones who have to initiate the play. Here, we can observe that Aguerd is one of the center-backs with the most efficient forward passing in terms of precision and quantity.
This tells us that he has a great ability to play out from the back and is effective in the build-up which is essential for Real Sociedad who like to have possession of the ball. He is the best Real Sociedad player on this behalf and has similar numbers to other renowned center-backs like Clément Lenglet of Atlético Madrid and Pau Cubarsí of Barcelona.
Progressive Passing
This passing metric gives us more depth into the danger of each player’s passing rather than just passing the ball forward 5m. This is because this metric only includes more specific passes such as a pass 10m closer to the opposition goal if the pass comes from the opposition side of the pitch.
In this image, we can see that Aguerd is just above the average in terms of precision, however, once again we see that he attempts many progressive passes per 90. This shows once more his exceptional technical ability which allows Real Sociedad to play from the back and be successful.
In the video footage, we can see that Aguerd’s diagonal passes are exceptional, missing very few passes and progressing the ball into the final third. It is a very common tactic used by Real Sociedad where the winger moves inside, taking the full-back with him and leaving a midfielder or a full-back free to receive the pass or vice versa. In this example, he is able to give the winger a 1vs1 situation against the opposing full-back while also beating two lines of pressure.
Passing
How many passes a center-back makes tells us how involved he is in possession and if he is comfortable on the ball. The limitation of this metric is that there are passes that can be easily made like back passes to the goalkeeper which influence this metric, nonetheless, it gives us an overview of how important the player is in possession.
This image tells us that Aguerd is very comfortable on the ball and has the technical ability to play in a possession-based side like Real Sociedad with almost 60 passes per 90 with a high precision.
Defensive Duels
Dominating defensive duels is essential for any defender, as their fundamental purpose is to defend his goal, and for that, winning duels is key.
With this chart, we can observe that Aguerd’s ability to win defensive duels is exceptional with a high success rate of over 75% while completing more than 5 defensive duels per 90. He is once again above the average in both respects and shows his ability to defend, and has similar numbers to other players like Axel Witsel of Atlético Madrid.
Aerial Duels
Aerial duels are essential for any defender who wants to succeed and even more, for those who press high and recover the ball up the pitch, as the opposing team will look to play long, and for that, aerial duels are required.
In this chart, we can see that Aguerd is able to win aerial duels with over a 60% success rate and more than 4 of these duels per 90. This shows us that he is a very solid defender apart from being able to play the ball as he dominates his defensive and aerial duels which is essential for any center-back destined for success.
Overall
This chart compares Nayef Aguerd with the rest of the LaLiga players in his position using percentiles in different aspects of the game. The percentiles work in the way that whatever the number, he is better than that percentage of players. If it is 70, he is better than 70%. In this chart, we can see that Aguerd’s xG is very high which shows that he is dangerous from crosses and free kicks as he is in the 98th percentile, perhaps in the top 3 or top 5 in the league. However, he is yet to score a goal in his first 22 appearances for La Real.
Another aspect we can notice from this image is that his ability to play progressive passes is not that impressive being just in the 55th percentile. Nonetheless, we can once again see that he is in the 85th percentile for passes attempted and touches which shows that he is comfortable in possession. Also, something we hadn’t seen before is his capacity to carry the ball being in the 77th percentile for progressive carries which shows his ability on the ball apart from passing.
In his progressive carries, we can observe that he uses his ability to play long passes to his advantage as he usually faints doing these to get past the first line of pressure. In the defensive aspects, we observe that he appears quite poor, being just in the 23rd percentile for % of dribblers tackled, this tells us that an aspect he must improve on his game is his 1vs1 defending.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Nayef Aguerd is an exceptional center-back capable of playing in many tactical styles as he is comfortable on the ball while still being solid in defense, with the ability to win defensive and aerial duels. In addition, his capacity to play long balls is excellent missing very few of these, and is something that can be used to a great extent for the benefit of his team.
Furthermore, he is one of the best defenders in the league when it comes to xG which shows his ability to get onto corners and free kicks, winning the aerial duel. After this season, he will most surely be looked at by top clubs though his age may be a determining factor on how much a club is willing to spend for his services.
By: Juan Fernandez Valencia / @ScoutLaLiga
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Matthew Ashton – AMA / Getty Images