By Joe Ellis

19th May, 2022 | 7:10pm

West Ham United have to offer Alphonse Areola a contract after France call-up

David Moyes has a lot of goalkeeper options to choose from at West Ham United but he needs to secure the future of one of the best at his disposal.

Lukasz Fabianski might have been the number one for the Hammers in the Premier League but it was Paris Saint-Germain loanee Alphonse Areola that played every game in the Irons’ run to the Europa League semi-finals.

There is a £10million optional fee that West Ham can pay to make Areola a permanent fixture at the London Stadium and they would be mad not to do so after Thursday 19 May’s announcement.

The 29-year-old Parisien has been called up to the France squad for their upcoming UEFA Nations League matches along with AC Milan’s Mike Maignan and Tottenham Hotspur captain Hugo Lloris as the other goalkeepers.

Seeing him get a call up if he played for a lesser nation wouldn’t be such a surprise or achievement necessarily but for him to be selected for France, the current World Champions, despite not being the number one for his club is quite remarkable.

If the French national team see something in him, then surely we need to open our eyes and realise the quality of shot-stopper we’ve got on our hands and potentially for a very cheap deal too.

Moyes has to get that contract printed and put it in front of him, no matter what he might ask for in wages because Fabianski is reaching the end of his best years while Areola is only just reaching his peak and he could easily be the number one at Rush Green for many years to come.

In other West Ham news, one of the Hammers’Under-23 players, who’s only played 40 minutes all season, is a summer target for a League One club.

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