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| West Ham United's Alphonse Areola during the pre-match warm-up prior to the UEFA Europa League Quarter Final Leg Two match between Olympique Lyon and West Ham United at Parc Olympique on April 14, 2022 in Lyon, France. |
Alphonse Areola has revealed the love of the
Claret and Blue Army convinced him to join West Ham United on a permanent
basis.
The France international goalkeeper put pen to paper
on a five-year contract with a further one-year option at Rush Green on Monday,
committing his future to a Club he helped reach the UEFA Europa League
semi-finals and the latter stages of Emirates FA Cup and Carabao Cup last
season.
The 29-year-old’s heroics between the sticks, warm
personality, big smile and entertaining and revealing social media posts have
all endeared him to West Ham supporters, who will now have the opportunity to
cheer him on until the summer of 2027.
With European qualification secured again for the
upcoming campaign through a seventh-place Premier League finish, Areola is
excited by the prospect of performing for the fans, his teammates, manager
David Moyes and goalkeeper coach Xavi Valero alike, and helping the Irons
continue the upward trajectory the Club has been on since Moyes’ arrival
two-and-a-half years ago.
The popular No13 sat down with West Ham TV to talk about his mutual affection for the supporters, his respect for Valero and his ambitions for Club and country ahead of a busy 2022/23 season and with the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals fast approaching…
Alphonse, you’re now officially a West Ham United player, so how does it feel?
“I feel good, I feel great, I’m happy to sign and happy to stay here permanently and I can’t wait to start to train and to do the job.”
Many clubs were interested in signing you, so why did you decide to return to West Ham?
“The main thing is that I felt the love of the supporters last season. Something for me that is really important is to feel that I’m loved. I know that I have to do my job and to do everything to make them happy. Obviously, the team, my teammates, the staff and Xavi Valero as well. The vibe of last season was great, so I just wanted to do everything to stay here.”
