A look back on Aaron Cresswell’s time in claret and blue as he said his final goodbyes to West Ham fans at London Stadium against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

It was announced earlier in the week that Aaron Cresswell will leave the club upon the expiration of his contract after 11 years in East London. The statement also said Lukasz Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal, and Danny Ings would also leave the club.

While Fabianski and Coufal have had excellent and long spells at the club, Aaron Cresswell leaving is more emotional due to the connection he has built with the fans over his 11 years at the club.

Cresswell leaving means Antonio is the only West Ham player remaining at the club to have played for us at Upton Park, which, alongside his years of good performances, makes it difficult to see him leave the club.

The now 35-year-old joined the club in 14/15 under Sam Allardyce, which was potentially his best season personally. He played every single minute in all 38 Premier League matches and in all four of our FA Cup matches. He scored his first goal in a 1-0 win over Newcastle and was crowned Hammer of the Year and player’s player of the year for his performances.

His great form continued in the 15/16 season as we bid farewell to the Boleyn Ground under Slaven Bilic. Again, he played every minute in every game but the one game he missed through injury. A few months into the 16/17 season, he was called up for the England squad. He went on to make three appearances for the Three Lions.

Some Hammers fans started to doubt Cresswell in 2017 as his and the team’s performances really dropped after moving to the London Stadium. However, David Moyes’ short stint reinvented and maybe even extended Cresswell’s West Ham career.

Moyes moved Cresswell to left centre-back in a back three, and while it didn’t impress too much with a lot of heavy defeats, it went on to flourish. After Moyes left after keeping us up, Cresswell had a decent season under Manuel Pellegrini, scoring a winner away at Chelsea as we finished 10th.

When Moyes returned when Pellegrini was sacked, Moyes used him as both a central defender in a three and a left-back, which improved the defensive side of his game, which had been lacking at times in the previous three seasons.

Cresswell became one of our most important players during the lockdown times which was excellent for the club and fans. Yarmolenko’s goal to keep us up against Chelsea, Jesse Lingard and Tomas Soucek’s magic, with Declan Rice shining as we finished 6th in the table and earned a Europa League spot.

Cresswell’s importance didn’t end there, he had an even better season in 20/21 and was crucial in our Europa League run and 7th place finish. Most people remember his red cards against Lyon and Frankfurt, but he was crucial to us even getting that far in the competition.

The Frankfurt red card was probably the lowest moment of Cresswell’s West Ham career. The Hammers were well in the tie after losing the first leg 2-1. However, all fans’ hopes were gone after Cresswell saw red just 20 minutes into the second leg in Frankfurt before going on to lose 1-0 and exit the Europa League at the semi-final stage.

However, all was forgiven a year later as West Ham and Cresswell made every single West Ham fan proud as we lifted the Conference League against Fiorentina. Cresswell had more of a bit-part role in the team then, but his 7 appearances in the run to victory were crucial.

Cresswell’s impact in Europe wasn’t over with the Conference League win; just last season, Cresswell put the round of 16 Europa League tie with Frankfurt to bed as he scored an excellent third in the 5-0 win over Freiburg.

This season is the least number of appearances Cresswell has made in 11 years at the club. Julen Lopetegui didn’t give Cresswell one league start in his half a season in charge. However, in Potter’s attempt to fix the defence, Cresswell has become a regular under the former Chelsea manager.

Many thought Cresswell would be given a new contract because of these performances, but it looks like Potter is taking steps in trying to make the West Ham squad, and the best way to do that is to let the contracts of your oldest players expire, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.