“It’s a complicated deal” – Fulham set to rival West Ham United for 29-year-old’s signature: The verdict

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Fulham are set to rival West Ham United in attempting to sign Alphonse Areola this summer, according to various reports.

Football League World last week revealed that if the Cottagers are promoted to the Premier League, they will attempt to bring Areola back to Craven Cottage, whilst today, 90MIN reported that West Ham’s hopes of re-signing Areola could be scuppered by Fulham’s interest.

Areola is currently on loan with the Hammers, featuring four times in the Premier League, but starring in their Europa League campaign.

It has been reported by The Athletic that West Ham have an option to make the 29-year-old’s loan move to the London Stadium permanent for £11 million pounds this summer.

Areola, though, spent last season on loan at Fulham, making 36 Premier League appearances and winning their fans player of the year award as the club were relegated to the second-tier.

With that being said, we asked three of our writers whether or not they thought Areola would be a good signing for the Cottagers, and whether or not he is needed, with Marek Rodak and Paulo Gazzaniga already on the books at the club.

Alfie Burns

Given how good Areola was last season for Fulham in the Premier League, it’s understandable that they would want to link back up with the goalkeeper.

Despite an impressive Championship campaign from the whole of Marco Silva’s squad, you can expect them to look to upgrade their options between the sticks.

The links to Nick Pope and Dean Henderson tell you they are scanning the market, but you could see