Fil-French finds home with Real Madrid

Real Madrid snares Filipino-French Alphonse Areola from PSG.

Real Madrid shook up their goalkeeping ranks on the final day of the summer transfer window, allowing backup Keylor Navas to move to Paris Saint-Germain and bringing in Filipino-French Alphonse Areola on loan from the French champion as the primary alternative to Thibaut Courtois.

The transfer was confirmed the day after Real Madrid’s match away at Villarreal, a club Areola knows well.

The match ended at 2-2 with Gareth Bale scoring his first goals since March but was shown a late red card as Real Madrid were held to a draw.

The Wales forward, on the sixth anniversary of his £85-million move to the Spanish capital, salvaged a point for Real by twice leveling at El Madrigal. But the 30-year-old’s evening ended on a sour note as he picked up a pair of stoppage-time yellow cards for late challenges and was dismissed.

The 26-year-old Areola, born to Filipino parents in Paris, spent the 2015-16 season on loan from PSG at Villarreal, where he did an excellent job between the posts, helping the Yellow Submarine reach the semifinals of the Europa League and finish in the league table. They even spent a couple of weeks on top of the standings that year.

Individually, Areola finished third in the rankings for the Zamora Award, given out each season to the LaLiga Santander goalkeeper with the best goals conceded record, in the 2015-16 season, helped by a run of 615 minutes without picking the ball out of the back of his net.

After learning his trade at the prestigious Clairefontaine football school and at PSG’s academy, he has been a part of many triumphant PSG squads, hitting double figures in terms of medals collected during his time with the capital city club.

Areola was the starting goalkeeper for France during its successful Under-20s World Cup campaign in Turkey, saving two penalties in the shootout victory over Uruguay in the final.

He then formed part of the senior squad which won the 2018 World Cup in Russia, even if he didn’t play in any of the matches given that captain Hugo Lloris was the undisputed starter.

It wasn’t always certain that he’d represent France at the international level, however. Although he was born in Paris, he could have represented the Philippines national team. In 2011, it was reported that he was genuinely considering the option.

In the end he committed to France, but he never stopped making the Philippines proud. In fact, last summer he became the first player of Filipino origin to ever lift the World Cup trophy.

And he’s not even the first player with a Filipino connection to form part of Real Madrid’s story. Another goalkeeper, Eduardo Teus, was born in Manila in 1896 and played for Los Blancos in the 1910s. Teus even went on to briefly coach the Spanish national team during the 1940s.

Areola’s path to the Santiago Bernabeu has been unique. He has a new home in Spanish football and Real Madrid will be hoping he can bring some of his unrelenting success with him as he embarks on this new adventure.