Journalist Ryan Taylor has provided his thoughts on Everton’s Neal Maupay after the striker’s performance against Fulham on the weekend.
What has Taylor said about Maupay?
The former Brighton and Hove Albion forward has not provided for the Toffees this season, which is particularly worrying as they are in the relegation battle.
Despite the 26-year-old’s poor form and lack of goals this season, manager Sean Dyche turned to him against Fulham on the weekend.
The former France U21 international dropped another sub-standard performance, which has led Taylor to give his thoughts.
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, he said:
“I have to say, I’m not the biggest fan of Maupay. It’s nothing personal, I just generally don’t rate him too highly as a player.
“It’s madness really, the amount of goals he scored at Brentford and even in the early stages of his Brighton career, because he just looks like a striker at the moment that doesn’t know how to score.”
How has Maupay performed for Everton this season?
The Versailles-born striker has made 22 Premier League appearances this season with 11 starts. Despite this, Maupay has only found the net on one occasion, which has led to Dyche turning to other options to lead the Toffees frontline.
The former Burnley manager has begun to utilise a mixture of Demarai Gray and Ellis Simms in attack, but, while this has brought some success, neither fulfil the role completely.
As a result, Everton currently sit second-bottom for Premier League goals scored this campaign with 25 – just one above Southampton and Nottingham Forest – and are facing relegation to the Championship.
When the £12.6m-rated striker was signed for an undisclosed fee from Brighton, there would have been hope that he would be able to reignite the form he had at Brentford. In the 26-year-old’s final season with the Bees, he scored 25 goals and accrued eight assists in 43 matches.
This form seems a long way away from the current displays that the Everton faithful have become accustomed to seeing. In the last 365 days, when compared to his positional peers in Europe’s top five leagues, Maupay is ranked within the bottom 1% for goals per 90 minutes, while being in the bottom 6% for shot-creating actions per 90 minutes, as per FBref.
These statistics demonstrate how the former AS Saint-Etienne striker has not been scoring, but has also not been creating.
The disappointment surrounding the transfer is clear.
While the Toffees have struggled throughout the pitch this season, a clear emphasis has to be placed on their lack of goals. Nonetheless, the blame should not rest entirely with Maupay, but his inability to score has hindered Everton’s hopes drastically.