West Ham United: Alphonse Areola could lose place in France squad with youngster coming through
Alphonse Areola could lose his place in the France squad to youngster Lucas Chevalier ahead of Euro 2024 despite his excellent start to the season for West Ham, report Score.
Writing on their official website (7 September), the French news outlet report that the Lille goalkeeper has caught the attention of national team boss Didier Deschamps ahead of the European Championships next summer.
And with Areola being 30 now, he could lose his spot in the national team to the 21-year-old, despite his fantastic start to the season in the Premier League for the Hammers.
“Affectionately nicknamed “the local kid” by his supporters, Lucas Chevalier is also the man in form in Paulo Fonseca’s eleven,” they wrote.
“His high-level performances since the start of the season have not gone unnoticed by the French team. Didier Deschamps and his staff are carefully monitoring the development of the young goalkeeper trained at LOSC.
“After having taken off the career of Mike Maignan who is now number 1 in the cages of the Blues, LOSC could well send a second goalkeeper on the international scene.
“Brice Samba and Alphonse Aréola are both aged 29 and 30 respectively, and one of them could soon give way to the young northerner.”
Unfair
Areola has been a member of the France national team for a long time despite never being first-choice at club level until very recently.
Hugo Lloris was the number one for a long time and now AC Milan stopper Mike Maignan is the main man for Les Bleus, but having Areola’s experience at that level even as just being a member of the squad would be vital for big tournaments.
Add to that the fact he is arguably in the peak of his career right now and as the number one at West Ham he would be very unlucky to be missing out.
Chevalier is clearly very talented and he would bring something different to the squad, picking up vital experience for future touraments considering he is being tipped to be a future number one for his country.
But it shouldn’t be the case unless he is outperforming the people currently in the positions, and Areola has been one of the better goalkeepers in the top leagues this season so if he maintains that, he should having nothing to worry about.
In other West Ham news, Saudi club could table ‘Truly Extraordinary’ bid for Hammers star today.