There's a well-known saying in English football: all goalkeepers are crazy.
We've certainly seen our fair share of characters between the sticks in years gone by. Adrián and David Martin were larger than life, and Łukasz Fabiański is still a big personality in the dressing room.
And then we have Alphonse Areola.
Our No23 is quite the character, and his desire to create a positive environment at Rush Green has made him a unique and valuable figure to have around. He is a leader too - a big personality and voice in the dressing room.
Brought in by David Moyes from Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain in July 2021, initially on loan before making the move permanent in 2022, Areola arrived in east London with a considerable pedigree, having won French and Spanish league titles and the FIFA World Cup with France in 2018. A standout season on loan at Fulham in the Premier League meant he was making a name for himself as one of Europe's most exciting modern stoppers.
This summer marked four years since Areola arrived in east London, having been born and raised in Paris to immigrant parents born in the Philippines, a Southeast Asian island nation in the western Pacific Ocean.
With that heritage and the experience of having lived in three of Europe’s most diverse capital cities, Areola is a unique character.
“Did you see that?” he asks, whilst positioning himself in a chair in a quiet corner of the West Ham players’ games room.
Moments earlier, the 32-year-old, an avid darts player, wore a beaming smile as he hit his latest checkout after taking to the oche.
The smile returns when he hears that instead of just chatting about football, we’ll also be discussing his other great loves in life: fatherhood, his wife and his hair!
Wife Marrion and his three daughters, Ayleen-Grace, ten, Aymma-Lyse, eight, and Avya-May, five are Areola’s constant companions, and he certainly has no shortage of people around him to keep inspiring and motivating him to hit new heights as he looks to truly rediscover his best form and, if all goes well, win himself a place in the France squad for next summer’s FIFA World Cup finals in North America.
Having recently passed 100 appearances for the Club, Areola put his darts away and sat down for a wide-ranging chat with whufc.com...
Competition is something I relish, and is something I’ve had throughout my career.
I've been through all situations in my career, and being in and out of the team is one of them.
In my entire career, I've always worked hard every day on the pitch, always getting ready for any call-up or any selection for the team. I was once trying to take the spot of Thibaut Courtois!
I've been successful in the past, winning lots of trophies, but competition is amazing, as is playing in the Premier League.
It's good when you have competition, because you have to perform and be good, and it helps you to push through boundaries and be even better.
I'm 32 years old, and I’m my own harshest critic. I'm always working to improve, always working to find little details to change something.
I have to be focused on me, on the team, on my teammates, on everything, and that's it. The main focus is the team right now and to perform for the team and to help the team.
Being a leader and influencing our squad is something I thrive on.
When you know me, and we work together every day, you just realise that I'm a normal human, and I'm just enjoying being here and enjoying doing what I love: to play football and to be at training every day.
It's just realising everything, and that we are lucky to be here.
Even when I'm on the side of the pitch, I'm always trying to help. The most important thing is getting the three points, so any details I can give to the boys off the pitch to help them perform is very important.
We’re continually learning and evolving under Nuno [Espírito Santo].
He was a goalkeeper as a player, and it's good to have him here.
He's giving his ideas to the players, and he wants the players to perform well and to give everything on the pitch.
He wants us to be proud of ourselves, to be proud of the team we have and to fight for everything, to compete for the team and get results.
He's not been here for a long time, but I think it's good that he has that experience with the keepers, so he understands more what we have to do and can tell us what he wants us to do.
There has been a lot of hard work, but also enjoyable work with Rui Barbosa and Billy Lepine.
I've known Billy since I arrived here.
I've always loved working with him. You have to be ready and well warmed up with him, because it's just crazy how he shoots the ball, and it comes at you like a bullet, so you have to be ready.
We’ve been working together with Rui for a short time, but he wants to help the keepers, help me, help Mads [Hermansen] and Łukasz [Fabiański], to just find the details and to push where we can to be better.
I don’t have to look far for inspiration off the pitch: my wife and three daughters inspire me every day. They're driving me.
They're the ones that I care about the most. Family, parents, everybody. I'm doing it for me, but for us as well.
My kids are growing so quickly. My first is ten, the second is eight, and my third one just turned five last month.
I’m trying to be there as a Dad first and foremost and want to make them proud. That’s my aim.
My wife is my rock. When it's going well, she's here, and when it's not, she's still here, so I know that she will never let me down and that I will never let her down as well in what she's doing with the brands that she represents.
We try to push each other to get the best out of all of us.
I was really proud to make my 100th Premier League start against Leeds United, and to pass 100 appearances for West Ham, as I’ve only ever made 100 appearances for one other club - Paris Saint-Germain.
It was a really proud moment.
I've been on loan a lot during my career, and the only other moment I reached that number was with Paris Saint-Germain.
We've done lots of good things in the past here at West Ham, and now we have to push to get to that level again. It’s what we are aiming for.
As a competitor, you just want to be playing in the best competitions, and we are doing everything we can to bring back those special moments for the Club.
I feel very much at home in east London, and now I try to help our new signings feel the same.
I felt at home from the first day I arrived because everybody welcomed me so well. I could see straight away that this Club is a family Club.
There are lots of people around, trying to make you feel comfortable and feel part of the family of West Ham.
Now, when you have lived that experience, you can tell others that you have enjoyed a good experience and then try to give the same experience to the newest members of our family.
The fans have played a massive part in my journey at West Ham.
The fans have been incredible, and I felt that warm welcome straight away.
We won the UEFA Europa Conference League, which I think helped a lot to get in their hearts and to be welcomed to the family.
When I walk around London, sometimes I meet some fans, and they still remember that night.
They always give that good word or strength to tell you to keep pushing, keep going, because there are lots of people behind us. It's not easy every day, but what we can do is to give happiness to everybody that is trying to help us and push us from afar.
I’ve got so many memories from my time at West Ham so far.
There are lots, but one that sticks out was my first game against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup [in September 2021].
It was a big game, and I could feel that something special was happening [and we won 1-0 at Old Trafford].
We played Manchester City next, and I made maybe six or seven saves, and we went through in the penalty shootout.
I can speak about Sevilla in the UEFA Europa League and, for me, I think it was one of the best nights at London Stadium.
The Conference League is an easy one to pick because when we came back from Prague, you could see east London was Claret and Blue, and when we were on the open-top bus, we realised we'd achieved something very special for the Club.
I think my different hairstyles come from my Filipino side, but I’ve always loved fashion and liked to try different things.
I always had short haircuts, like skin fades, and one day I said, 'I'll try to grow my hair'. I knew that it wouldn't be straight away and it would be step by step.
When going through that process of growing the hair longer, braids came up, and it was quite different for me.
Filipinos are called the Americans of Asia, and they have that kind of American lifestyle, so I think it comes from that.
But I’ve always loved the fashion and trying different things as well.
I feel confident to do it, while some maybe will not do it, but I would like to be the first one to say that I will try it.
I think I'm going to try to grow my hair to make the samurai style, like that of a Japanese martial arts master.
Next, I’ll maybe go for the Aquaman style!
I’ve got a dream of going to the FIFA World Cup with France in 2026, so it’s an important time for me.
I’d love to be back in the France squad for the World Cup next year.
The decision for Didier Deschamps not to pick me recently was right, and I know that if I'm out, it means that I have to work more now and to give everything possible to show that I'm here in case something happens.
If they make the decision to take me, then I'll be more than happy, but I will work for it.
I started watching football when France were at the World Cup in 1998, so my story started there. I was five years old, and the final was obviously against Brazil, which they won.
That was when everything was clear in my mind that I would play football instead of any other sport.
I remember wearing my first France kit. I was a five-year-old kid, like my youngest daughter now, which hits me a bit in my head, but it was crazy.
For me, it was a perfect moment to tell my parents, 'I want to play football', and here I am now!
