Manchester City youth product Pablo Maffeo, now at Mallorca, may have stoked the fires ahead of their clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League, by hitting out at Jude Bellingham.
AS cover comments from the defender today in which he accuses the midfielder of being a fake and admits he prefers Vinicius Junior to him anyway.
Maffeo spent several years with Manchester City after joining their U18 side from Espanyol in 2013 but would only go on to make three appearances in their first team.
Instead, he would spend spells out on loan with Girona before then joining VfB Stuttgart in a €9m move in 2018. That move didn’t work out either and he eventually ended up at Mallorca in a €3m deal in 2022.
He’s been there ever since, which has meant plenty of clashes with Real Madrid and Bellingham since he joined the Spanish giants in a €113m move in July 2023.
Bellingham has established himself as one of the stars of world football since then, but it seems Maffeo has been left unimpressed, calling out the England star ahead of his meeting with Manchester City this evening.
“If you act like a gentleman, like a child who is cold and I put the jacket on him, but then you insult or mess with your teammates from behind, then you’re a fake. Come face to face,” he said.
“If I don’t like you too, you already know it, but don’t come on a good note. So, if I have to choose one of the two, I’ll choose Vinicius, because I know what he’s like.”
