Didier Deschamps has spoken out on Alphonse Areola’s situation at West Ham and delivered a damning decision but offers the star hope.
Alphonse Areola has had to wait very patiently to become West Ham’s number goalkeeper.
The towering Frenchman was meant to succeed Lukasz Fabianski last season. That was the succession plan David Moyes had put in place when making Areola’s loan move from PSG permanent.
But Fabianski was so good and so consistent that Areola was left frustrated as number two for the Premier League campaign last term.
Thankfully West Ham enjoyed another long European adventure which saw the Hammers go on and win the Europa Conference League with Areola the first choice for that competition.
Now he is revelling in the role of being West Ham’s outright number one, having his heroics nominated for Premier League save of the month in the first three awards thus far – winning the latest one.
Areola’s next big motivation was to make the France number one spot his own following a decade as a back-up option to the now internationally retired Hugo Lloris.
He faces competition from Lens goalkeeper Brice Samba and AC Milan’s Maignan.
West Ham’s 6ft 5in stopper was once again named in the France squad for the November internationals.
And their manager has been discussing the Hammers ‘keeper after he was an unused substitute once again with Maignan and Samba playing against Gibraltar and Greece respectively.
Didier Deschamps has spoken out on Areola’s situation at West Ham and delivered a damning decision but offers the star hope.
Deschamps says he is happy Areola is now West Ham’s number one and feels his performances are improving.
But he has made it clear the West Ham man is very much France’s number three. Although he says it is up to Areola to change his mind.
“Brice had, like the rest of his club, a difficult start to the season,” Deschamps said in a press conference after confirming Samba is currently number two to Maignan.
“But he’s a competitor and Lens have brought it back together.
“Alphonse is doing good things. He is playing Premier League matches and he is growing in calmness and is playing well.
“It is good that the hierarchy is defined, but that can change in the month of March or June. There is competition if I think it’s right to do things differently.”
Deschamps has history with West Ham.
He has unofficially ended Kurt Zouma’s France career. And he criticised Dimtri Payet for joining West Ham, snubbing him for France thereafter until finally succumbing to public pressure.
Maignan may just edge it between he and Areola. But Ligue 1 is a vastly inferior league to the Prem and West Ham’s number one deserves to be ahead of former Forest goalkeeper Samba.
Anyone who has watched both play will attest Areola is the superior stopper.
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