Ligue 1

Mike Maignan will be France's number one goalkeeper for their upcoming UEFA EURO 2024 qualifiers against the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland, ...

Only a recent injury to the Poland international has given Areola a chance to play — prior to late February, he had featured in just over 100 minutes of the Hammers' English Premier League season. Lafont's career so far has been the stuff of boyhood dreams, which is appropriate given he was just 16 years old when he made his Ligue 1 Uber Eats debut for Toulouse in November 2015. That's because the former Paris Saint-Germain and Lens man has a significant problem: he is not first-choice at his club with Lukasz Fabianski the man between the posts at West Ham United. He has featured at every international level from U16 through to the senior squad, receiving his first call-up in May 2019, and featuring in nine squads before making his debut almost a year-and-a-half later. You can see that in the fact Areola was named in the squad for this round of games. Like Alphonse Areola, Maignan is a product of the PSG youth academy, though unlike his rival for the number one spot with Les Bleus, he never made a first-team appearance for the 10-time French champions.