Neal Maupay’s time at Everton didn’t go according to plan for anyone involved, perhaps other than the player’s agent and financial advisor, and it was something of a relief when he left the club in the summer window.
The 28-year-old moved on loan to Marseille for the current season, with the French club having an obligation to buy him.
Marseille are expected to put up a title challenge to PSG, with the latter losing key players and then Roberto De Zerbi being heavily backed in the south of France.
After ten matches, Marseille are second, six points behind PSG. They’re level on points with AS Monaco, who are third, and two ahead of fourth placed Lille.
Maupay has been mainly used as a substitute by De Zerbi, but there’s surely got to be more planned given the contractual investment they’ve made to take him from Everton.
Afterwards, 6 feet 2 inches Nantes defender Nicolas Pallois happened to mention Maupay’s height in his efforts to praise his opponent’s performance.
Le Figaro quote him as saying: “He is 1.60m (1.71m in reality), he is short on legs. He is a very good player. On the goal, he is behind me, I see him but I think there is also Nico (Cozza) who is close to him. Basically, you have to try to cut the action from the start, there are four for the crosser, that’s what’s a shame, but it’s a beautiful goal.”
Maupay got wind of this, and reacted in the way one would expect: “I just heard on TV that he said I was small. But hey, there’s no point in being tall if it’s to get pushed around. For me, it was a tranquil evening.”
The Marseille player, technically still owned by Everton, will be hoping De Zerbi was impressed by his performance against Nantes and trusts him to start matches going forward.
