Neal Maupay has shared his reasonings for firing social media jibes at Everton despite still technically being on the books at Goodison Park.
Following the Toffees’ 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in December, the Frenchman wrote, “Whenever I’m having a bad day I just check the Everton score and smile,” on X.
While his temporary move to Marseille comes with an obligation to buy at the end of the season, the 28-year-old is currently on loan from the Toffees after leaving for Ligue 1 during the summer.
Speaking to FootMercato [17 January], Maupay said: “I like to sleep and that’s it. Social networks are for everyone, everyone gives their opinion, and I do it too. It’s not because I play football that I should deprive myself of it.
“I like to send barbs like the fans and the players do. I’ve always been myself. You think I’m crazy, but you don’t sleep with your friends? I just have a platform… I did it before, I’ll do it after football.
“For some players, with notoriety, it’s complicated to be yourself. I prefer to be myself.”
Neal Maupay winning no fans at Everton after controversial comment
There is absolutely no way back for Maupay at Goodison Park, with the striker seemingly burning all his bridges with the Premier League club after leaving on loan.
Of course, with the player’s deal at Marseille including an obligation-to-buy clause, it is highly unlikely that he will return to Merseyside at the end of the season, and that’s probably a good thing.
He is clearly not sorry for his social media comments at all, an incident that caused a lot of anger towards the striker, with Tony Bellew even lashing out.
After speaking out about the controversy, it is still not exactly clear why he chose to trigger the fanbase on social media, having never been treated that badly by the majority of fans.
Maupay was never a free-scorer at Goodison Park, only scoring two goals in 34 appearances after joining on a £15million deal from Brighton in August 2022 [BBC Sport].
