Ex-Everton star ‘banished’ from training weeks ahead of Newcastle United clash
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Newcastle United latest news: One former Everton man won’t feature for Marseille in their Champions League clash.
Former Everton striker Neal Maupay has reportedly been ‘banished’ from training with Marseille by Roberto De Zerbi just weeks ahead of their clash with Newcastle United in the Champions League.
Maupay, who also played for Brentford and Brighton during his time in the Premier League, joined Marseille in 2024 after initially moving to the French club on-loan from the Toffees. The 29-year-old made it clear of his desire to leave Everton on a permanent basis towards the end of his time at Goodison Park with a series of social media posts.
Maupay netted four goals during his first season at the Ligue 1 club, but has not been seen in action at all so far this campaign. De Zerbi’s side sit second in the table behind PSG, but Maupay has yet to be involved in any of their eight Ligue 1 games to date.
Neal Maupay ‘banished’ from Marseille training
According to reports from L’Equipe, Maupay has been ‘banished’ from training at Marseille by De Zerbi. The report read: “Maupay has rarely been prolific and his lack of stats and the arrival of new forwards in the shape of Amine Gouiri (who joined in January), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Igor Paixao was clearly going to further reduce the Frenchman’s game time.
“However, there were no buyers for the former Brentford and Everton centre-forward, and so he remained at OM but very much on the margins.
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“He only participates in the warm-ups and then for the rest of the session, does passes with the assistant manager and laps of the pitch.
“Maupay is no longer included in matchday squads and is no longer even summoned to team meetings.”
Newcastle United travel to the Stade Velodrome at the end of November in their fifth Champions League league phase match of the season. Maupay’s participation in that game, though, looks to be in serious doubt.
During his time in England, Maupay scored three times against Newcastle United, but found himself on the losing side on half of his ten matches against the Magpies. Maupay, though, only scored more goals against Leeds United and Wolves (4) and West Ham (5), than he did in games against Newcastle.