West Ham star’s wife blames Nuno Espirito Santo for World Cup squad snub
Alphonse Areola’s wife has aimed a furious social media post at Nuno Espirito Santo and Graham Potter following West Ham’s relegation.
The Hammers’ 14-year stay in the top-flight came to an end on Sunday, despite beating Leeds 3-0 in their final game.
Tottenham‘s 1-0 win over Everton meant that the Irons finished two points below their rivals, condemning them to the Championship.
It’s an outcome which talkSPORT understands is set to cost Espirito Santo his job, with West Ham expected to sack him.
Nuno had signed a three-year contract at the London Stadium after replacing Graham Potter in September, but won just 11 of his 37 games in charge.
It is believed he has a clause in his contract that allows him to be sacked without receiving compensation as the team did not stay up.
‘From a trophy to a relegation’
With emotions running high following West Ham‘s relegation, the wife of goalkeeper Areola has now hit out at both current and previous managers Nuno and Potter for their handling of him.
The Frenchman was relegated to second-choice by Potter at the start of the season, with Mads Hermansen taking the No.1 shirt.
Following Nuno’s arrival in September, Areola was reinstalled as starting goalkeeper, before being dropped again in January after a series of high-profile errors, and has not started in the Premier League since.
And after West Ham’s relegation to the Championship was confirmed, the 33-year-old’s wife, Marrion, took to Instagram to aim a series of posts at managers past and present.
Alongside a picture of Areola holding the Conference League trophy in 2023, she wrote: “From a trophy to relegation.
“Thank you Potter for the start of the season and Nuno for the end.”
In her next story, Marrion then posted a screenshot of her ticket from West Ham’s Conference League final win over Fiorentina three years ago, with a broken-heart emoji attached.
She followed this up with a picture of Areola holding two Premier League awards for Save of the Month, before hitting out at her husband’s treatment by
This was captioned: “Being dropped at the beginning of the season for no reason…
“After a very bad start then has made 20 games and all of a sudden ‘I’m really sorry you won’t start…’. ‘Why?’ ‘For no particular reason but I’m sorry’.”
A subsequent post was a graphic showing Areola has the highest save rate per 90 minutes in the Premier League.
Over that photo, Marrion commented: “Very sad for the fans. Very frustrated for the family but always proud of you no matter what.”
Marrion then appeared to blame Nuno for Areola being left out of France’s World Cup squad this summer.
The Frenchman was part of Les Bleus’ 2018 triumph, but has been capped just five times for his country, having served as back-up at the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024 as well.
The final story featured clips of Areola in action for France, with Marrion writing: “And NO World Cup this year thank you coach Nuno.”
Areola joined West Ham in July 2021 on loan from Paris Saint-Germain before making his move permanent a year later.
He has since gone on to feature 123 times for the Hammers, and played in their 2023 Conference League final win over Fiorentina, as the club clinched their first trophy in 43 years.
With a year remaining on his current contract, it remains to be seen whether Areola will remain at the club in the Championship next season.
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