23
Alphonse
Areola
Goalkeeper
Alphonse Areola
Shoots
Right
Signed
29/07/2021
Height
195 cm
Born
27/02/1993
Debut
22/09/2021
Nationality
France
Weight
94 kg

France international Alphonse Areola was an ever-present as West Ham United won the UEFA Europa Conference League in June 2023.

A serial trophy winner with Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and his country, the Parisian came through at France's famed Clairefontaine national football centre, before featuring for some of Europe's biggest clubs.

After a season with Fulham, Areola moved to West Ham in 2021 and has been the Club's regular cup competition goalkeeper, helping the Irons reach the UEFA Europa League semi-finals in 2021/22 before lifting the Conference League trophy the following season.

Career

2023/24

Started the Premier League season as No1 in the 1-1 draw at AFC Bournemouth on 12 August 2023...Saved a penalty from Enzo Fernández at 1-1 in the 3-1 home Premier League victory over Chelsea on 20 August 2023...Replaced the ill Łukasz Fabiański for the 2-1 UEFA Europa League Group A defeat at Olympiacos in Greece on 26 October 2023...Won the October 2023 Premier League Save of the Month award for a superb stop from Aston Villa's Douglas Luiz in a 4-1 defeat at Villa Park on 22 October 2023.

2022/23

Appeared as a first-half substitute in the opening-day 0-2 home Premier League defeat by Manchester City on 7 August 2022...Started both legs of the 6-1 UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round win over Viborg FF in August 2022...Started all six UEFA Europa Conference League Group B ties, keeping three clean sheets as West Ham United topped the group with an historic six wins out of six...Earned his fourth and fifth caps for France, as a substitute in a 2-0 UEFA Nations League A Group 1 win at home to Austria on 22 September 2022, then starting the 2-0 defeat in Denmark three days later...Appeared as a half-time substitute in the 1-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester United on 30 October 2022...Started the EFL Cup third round penalty shootout defeat by Blackburn Rovers on 9 November 2022...Included in France's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals, where they finished as runners-up to Argentina...Started the FA Cup ties against Derby County and Manchester United in the fourth and fifth rounds...Appeared as a substitute in the Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on 25 February 2023 after Łukasz Fabiański suffered a fractured eye socket...Started his first home Premier League match for West Ham United in a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on 12 March 2023...Started both legs of West Ham United's UEFA Europa Conference League knockout stage ties with AEK Larnaca, KAA Gent and AZ Alkmaar in spring 2023...Ended the Premier League season with five appearances to his name, in addition to three starts in the domestic cup competitions...Started the UEFA Europa Conference League final win over ACF Fiorentina in Prague on 7 June 2023...Named in the UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season.

2021/22

Joined West Ham United on a season-long loan deal from Paris Saint-Germain on 29 July 2021...Made his West Ham United debut in the 1-0 EFL Cup third-round win at Manchester United on 22 September 2021...Kept another clean sheet in the 2-0 UEFA Europa League Group H win over Rapid Vienna at London Stadium on 30 September 2021...Kept a third clean sheet in a row in the 3-0 home UEFA Europa League Group H win over KRC Genk on 21 October 2021...Produced seven saves and kept a fourth successive clean sheet as West Ham United beat Manchester City 5-3 on penalties in the Carabao Cup fourth round at London Stadium on 27 October 2021...Won the Carabao Player of the Round award for his performance against Manchester City...Recalled to the France squad for two FIFA World Cup qualifiers in November 2021...Started the UEFA Europa League Group H ties away to KRC Genk and Rapid Vienna, keeping his third clean sheet in four group-stage appearances in the latter, in November 2021...Started the sixth UEFA Europa League Group H tie at home to Dinamo Zagreb...Started the Carabao Cup fifth-round defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on 22 December 2021...Started all three FA Cup ties as West Ham United defeated Leeds United and Kidderminster Harriers before losing 3-1 at Southampton in the fifth round...Started both legs of the Hammers' 2-1 UEFA Europa League round of 16 aggregate win over Spanish side Sevilla in March 2022, making a vital second-leg save to deny Youssef En-Nesyri at Londno Stadium...Called-up by France for the March international fixtures...Started the 1-1 UEFA Europa League quarter-final first-leg draw with Olympique Lyonnais at London Stadium on 7 April 2022...Finished the season with eight clean sheets in 18 appearances in all competitions.

Before West Ham

Born in Paris to Filipino parents in February 1993, Areola began his football career at the Entente Sportive des Petits Anges (Little Angels Sports Club) in the city’s Palais-Bourbon arrondissement at the age of six...At 13, he joined PSG on a five-year training contract, spending the first three training during the week at the world-famous Clairefontaine National Football Institute and playing for the club at weekends, before returning to PSG full-time at 16 in the summer of 2009...Areola was just 20 when he made his first-team debut in a 3-1 Ligue 1 win over Brest at the Parc des Princes in May 2013. The following season, 2013/14, he starred during a season-long loan at RC Lens, helping the club to win promotion and securing the Best Goalkeeper in Ligue 2 award...The 2014/15 campaign saw Areola, still just 21, loaned out to SC Bastia, and he helped the Corsican club reach the Coupe de la Ligue final...A third successive loan spell saw the stopper join Villarreal, where he set a club record of 620 minutes without conceding a goal and helped the Spanish side reach the UEFA Europa League semi-finals and finish fourth in La Liga...Three seasons of development were rewarded with a place in the PSG first-team squad for the 2016/17 campaign, which he ended with 27 appearances and three domestic trophie...The following season, Areola was the undisputed No1, helping PSG win a domestic quadruple. He followed that success by being part of France’s 2018 World Cup winning squad in Russia and made his full international debut in Germany in September of the same year...After making it back-to-back Ligue 1 titles in 2018/19, Areola joined Real Madrid on loan as part of the deal which took Keylor Navas to PSG and helped the Spanish giants win the La Liga title..The 2020/21 season saw the Frenchman experience the English Premier League for the first time during a loan spell with Fulham, where his outstanding performances saw him voted the Whites’ Player of the Season.

Honours

International Honours

France

FIFA World Cup (2018)
FIFA U20 World Cup (2013)

Club Honours

Paris Saint-Germain

Ligue 1 (2012/13, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)
Coupe de France (2017, 2018)
Coupe de la Ligue (2017, 2018)
Trophée des Champions (2016, 2017, 2019)

Real Madrid

La Liga (2019/20)
Supercopa de España (2020)

West Ham United

UEFA Europa Conference League (2023)

Individual Honours

UEFA European Under-19 Championship Team of the Tournament (2012)
Ligue 2 Goalkeeper of the Year (2013/14)
Ligue 2 Team of the Season (2013/14)
UEFA Champions League Breakthrough XI (2016)
Fulham Player of the Season (2020/21)
West Ham United Save of the Season (2021/22)
UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season (2022/23)
Premier League Save of the Month (October 2023)