Alphonse Areola, the French goalkeeper has been the centre of attention for the two Spanish giants, as both clubs look to reinforce their goalkeeping options. The 23-year-old spent a season on loan with the Spanish side Villareal and has been impressive even though his current club, PSG, lost against Toulouse this weekend.
Areola was initially signed from INF Clairefontaine back in 2009 and has been viewed by the French club as a long-term prospect. However, limited opportunities led to the keeper going out on loan to clubs such as Lens, Bastia and Villareal.
His time at Villareal enabled him to get regular game time, with Areola keeping a very impressive 14 clean sheets in 30 league games. Regular game time helped the keeper develop his reading of the game as he excelled in shot stopping and plucking crosses out of the air in his time at Villareal.
That season, he finished 6th among the best keepers across Europe with 14 clean sheets, as per Peter Sharland’s report on Squawka News. Areola featured 32 times for the “Yellow Submarines” and helped them finish fourth in the 2015-16 season.
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The Frenchman was also a part of the side that won the U-20 World Cup in 2012 alongside the likes of Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne and Paul Pogba.
Unai Emery, the current PSG coach has opted for a rotation policy among his goalkeepers with keeper Areola and Kevin Trapp competing for starting spots. The Frenchman started in the Champions League match against Arsenal and was also present in the starting line-up this weekend.
However, defeat over the weekend might force Emery to rotate the keepers once again. Although Areola has clocked up 100 appearances in club football, he still hasn’t become a regular starter which is a major cause of concern for the player.
Speaking after the Champions League group game against Arsenal, Emery was of the view that the squad possessed three capable goalkeepers and he would decide who would start the game on the basis of confidence and performances in the training sessions.
But Real Madrid and Barcelona have now been alerted to the possible availability of Areola. Barcelona already have keepers Jasper Cillessen and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, who are also part of the rotation policy adopted by Luis Enrique.
Madrid, on the other hand, have only Keylor Navas, the Costa Rican as their first option with other keepers Ruben Yanez and Kiko Casilla not inspiring as much faith as the Costa Rican. Hence a move to Madrid would make sense for the Frenchman.
