Neal Maupay might have done Everton and the Friedkin Group a favour with the social media post he sent mocking the club he is still contracted to.
Out on loan at Marseille, where he has two goals in 11 games, Maupay sparked indignation among the club’s fanbase by posting on social media: “Whenever I’m having a bad day I just check the Everton score and smile.”
The club are aware of Maupay’s post and intend to deal with it internally. Probably wisely, they don’t seem to want to give him the publicity he so clearly craves for whatever kind of “banter” brand he is trying to build.
Even if Everton wanted to, there is no realistic recourse for Maupay’s post. The deal thrashed out with Marseille means the French club pay 100 per cent of his wages, and the loan automatically becomes a permenant deal at the end of the season when his three-year contract at Goodison Park expires.
There was an option of a fourth year but, suffice to say, that will not be taken up.
And why would it? Maupay might have had a chuckle when he wrote about his former club on Sunday night but the last laugh is likely to be Everton’s.
Maupay was lucky to get a chance at a club of their size and stature, where they venerate former strikers prepared to strain every sinew for the cause.
Had it not been for Everton’s desperation – mostly financial, because they were working to such strict financial restrictions – he would have been nowhere near their wishlist.
But he did get that opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants like Dixie Dean, Wayne Rooney and Duncan Ferguson and promptly fumbled it. So who is the joke really on here?
And Maupay’s toxicity is a reminder to new owners the Friedkin Group of exactly the sort of player they want to avoid as they consider the biggest overhaul in decades at the club.
The Brentford striker’s arrival reeked of desperation and sums up an era in which Everton’s recruitment was wrong-headed, bringing in questionable personalities whose response to the pressure was to turn it back on the institution he was paid handsomely to represent.
The Friedkins’ calm, positive initial impression – and their intention to build a more professional culture of high standards alongside cutting edge recruitment – could not be more different from Maupay’s social media post.
If there is a blueprint for what an Everton player shouldn’t look like in the new era, Maupay fits into it pretty neatly.
The relief for Everton is that their self-inflicted banter era should come to a close in 2025. There is a long road back to former glories but they can rest assured that they won’t be picking up unwelcome hitch-hikers like Maupay along the way.
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