Everton forward Neal Maupay has admitted he would love to return to former club Nice, if the option is ever presented to him.
The striker has been speaking to Nice Matin in France following a difficult season at Goodison Park following a move from Brighton and Hove Albion in the summer.
He managed just one goal in 27 games in the league this season and featured mostly from the bench under Frank Lampard and Sean Dyche, featuring in the starting 11 just 29% of the time and in 33% of the available minutes despite Dominic Calvert-Lewin missing much of the campaign.
A summer departure has been heavily mooted, with it believed that the Frenchman is unlikely to be a part of Dyche’s long-term plans at the club.
He’s been linked with a move to Italy with Salernitana, but it seems the 26-year-old has other ideas and would like to return to former club Nice, where he managed nine goals and three assists in 53 games earlier in his career, if he is to leave Everton.
“I’m happy to have become a Premier League player,” he said.
“I went through difficult times and took risks when I left Brest in 2017 for Brentford, a small club in the suburbs of London, in the Championship.
“After two seasons there where I enjoyed myself (41 goals in 95 games), I have now been playing in the Premier League for four years. First at Brighton, where I left good memories, then today at Everton.
“Of course, that would interest me,” he added on a return to Nice.
“Nice is my city, I grew up here, my parents still live in Valbonne, I live in Nice. Whenever I have a weekend or I’m on vacation, I’m here. It’s at my house. I love the city, the club.
“I have flourished in England for six years, but in Nice I have experienced everything there and won everything as a youngster, the Gambar-della in particular. It really marked me.”
