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Suggestions that Alphonse Areola could be entering his final few months as a West Ham United player have not gone down particularly well with many fans of the Premier League relegation-battlers.
The experienced France international has only featured in the FA Cup since Nuno Espirito Santo re-introduced Mads Hermansen between the sticks nearly two months ago.
And with reports claiming that Hull City goalkeeper Ivor Pandur is a summer option for West Ham United – a long-term target, the Londoners held ‘concrete’ talks with the Croatian back in 2025 as well – the signs appear to point towards a departure for Alphonse Areola.
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When we at Hammers News put the situation to our TalkingPoint users, though, the response was pretty emphatic.
Not only should Areola stay at the London Stadium, many argue, he should still be Nuno’s go-to Premier League glovesman.
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
“Should be number one keeper,” one fan writes on our Facebook page.
“[Letting Areola go] is a stupid suggestion with the fact that we don’t have a great current number one goalkeeper. [Hermansen] is still shaky. In my opinion, Areola is still a much more solid number one choice ‘keeper and he should be in goal for the rest of the season.”
“Areola first choice!”
“Areola our number one!”
“I don’t understand it. I thought he was improving etc, then gets dropped.”
Some Hammers fans want Areola back in for Mads Hermansen
Former Hammers playmaker Joe Cole feels that clash with Wolves could make or break West Ham’s season after the international break. And after Hermansen gifted Ollie Watkins and Aston Villa their second goal in last week’s 2-0 loss – the Dane slipping back into bad habits following a fine run of form – the feeling is that Nuno should spend the break really considering his options.
“Areola has to play against Wolves. Hermansen looked like a small kid against Villa players and Wolves are just as tall,” another fan writes.
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“Against Brentford in the cup [a fifth round victory], he dealt with all the long throw malarky extremely well.”
“If it wasn’t for [the outstanding Konstantinos] Mavrapanos, we would have lost 5-0. Hermensen was awful against Villa!”
“Pandur hasn’t been as good this season. The Championship keeper we should be targeting is [Viktor] Johansson at Stoke. He’s been injured this season though; coincided with their fall down from automatic promotion places.”
It is true that Pandur, named Hull City’s Player of the Season in 2024/25, has endured a slightly mixed second campaign on Humberside. The Tigers have the second-worst defensive record in the Championship’s top half, despite being firmly entrenched in the play-off places.
Interestingly, the aforementioned Viktor Johansson is someone West Ham did consider before spending £20 million on Hermansen in August.
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