The agent of Everton striker Neal Maupay has indicated that a summer exit from the Premier League outfit could be on the cards with Italy’s Serie A a potential destination, speaking to Tuttomercatoweb.
While Dwight McNeil, Ben Godfrey, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Michael Keane have all benefitted immensely from the sacking of Frank Lampard and the subsequent appointment of Sean Dyche, you certainly cannot say the same of Maupay.
A £15 million signing from Brighton and Hove Albion; the fiery Frenchman has played only five minutes across Everton’s last three Premier League games. With Demarai Gray impressing through the middle, and with Ellis Simms scoring a dramatic equaliser at Chelsea, Maupay is potentially Everton’s fourth-choice centre-forward these days under the former Burnley boss.
And Federico Pastorello, Maupay’s representative, is not ruling out a move to Serie A. The 26-year-old held talks with Salernitana before arriving at Goodison Park in August.
Neal Maupay struggling for Everton under Sean Dyche
“We had strong negotiations with Salernitana. Then, he went to Everton,” Pastorello says.
“There was a managerial change (Lampard out, Dyche in). At the end of the season, we’ll see what to do. We will work to accommodate him. There will probably be work for him to do in Italy…”
Maupay has scored just once in 22 games for Everton. The one-time Brentford talisman always felt like an awkward fit for a Toffees side who prefer a more physical option through the middle. Maupay was at his most effective at Brighton when paired with technically-gifted creators like Leandro Trossard, Adam Lallana and Pascal Gross; creative talent Everton could only dream of right now.
“I was absolutely gobsmacked (when Everton signed Maupay),” admits former Liverpool and England midfielder Danny Murphy (talkSPORT). “He’s not a goalscorer.”
Maupay, in his defence, did score 26 goals in three Premier League seasons at Brighton; hitting double figures in 2019/20.
Everton are expected to bring in another striker this summer. It seems unlikely Maupay will be given a chance to silence his doubters on Merseyside.
“Maupay doesn’t give them enough,” adds former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan. “But I think Dyche has the organisational skills to win games 1-0,” Jordan says.
“It doesn’t really matter at the moment (how Everton score). They have got to nick games and close games off. We keep making the case for Everton because of Sean Dyche.”
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