Former Everton flop Neal Maupay fumes over what fans did to him ‘after the games’

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Everton have endured a tough past few years regarding strikers and a keen inability to find the back of the net.

Their profligacy has been the direct source of their ongoing struggles, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin the latest to be plagued by the troubles of starting up front for the Toffees.

And, crazily enough, these issues are not born of a lack of chance creation.

In fact, this campaign under Sean Dyche has seen some of the most free-flowing and incisive football played in years at Goodison Park, yet they just cannot find that finishing touch.

Neal Maupay fared no better, although, under their current 52-year-old manager he was never going to.

He has now sought to shed further light on the circumstances surrounding his Merseyside exit.

What Neal Maupay said about Everton

Having recently been branded one of the ‘most disliked’ players by a fellow Premier League striker, his adoption of being the villain has become legendary in English football.

Never far from controversy, the Frenchman revels in his role as the wind-up merchant, always nipping at centre-backs or seeking to unsettle his opposition.

And, funnily enough, it very often works.

However, during his sole year at Everton, the only people he frustrated were his own fans.

Now, in an interview with The Times, he has sought to explain the circumstances surrounding his escape back to Brentford, fuming at those same supporters.

The 27-year-old claimed: ‘It was a really hard year team-wise. People don’t see that. They just go online, check the stats and say ‘You’re rubbish. You’re not worth the shirt’. We were losing every week, which affects the mood in training, we changed managers and playing styles which wasn’t easy, and the fans were upset because they love the club.

‘I can understand that but it’s not like I am trying to miss chances on purpose. I would be on a day off with my kids and people in the park would swear at me like I owe them something because I’m a footballer and I’m due to go through that.

‘After the games, fans would smash on the window of the car when my kids were in the back saying, ‘Leave our club’. I understand if you don’t think a player is good, fair enough, but there’s a way to do it.’

Neal Maupay was never going to work under Sean Dyche

Although Frank Lampard may have had grand ambitions of playing a beautiful brand of free-flowing football with Maupay as the spearhead, the realities of Everton’s situation quickly became apparent.

They were a side unable to play nice, and as such Dyche was forced to adapt upon his appointment in January of 2023.

Instantly reverting to his tried and tested 4-4-2, or a modified 4-4-1-1, the former Brighton and Hove Albion man suddenly had no place in the side.

Far from the hulking marksman that Dyche desired, he was made redundant, and finished the campaign having scored just one league goal from an expected goals of 4.80.

And whilst Calvert-Lewin is faring no better, with three goals from 8.85 expected goals in the Premier League, at the very least he fits the physical profile needed for this system.

Maupay was dealt a poor hand with his Everton move, and he deserves to move on and enjoy success elsewhere.