Neal Maupay has gained a reputation for unsettling his opponents ever since his time at Brighton.
Kyle Walker and Neal Maupay presented their arguments to the referee. (Image via Goal)
On 5th February, Manchester City made the trip to West London to face Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium. After suffering defeats in both encounters the previous season, City needed a victory, and thanks to a hat-trick by Phil Foden, they achieved just that.
With City comfortably leading 3-1 towards the end of the match, Neal Maupay and Kyle Walker engaged in a heated exchange of words. The situation escalated to the point where Walker had to involve referee Jarred Gillett and fourth official Stuart Atwell. Despite the referees’ attempts to defuse the situation, Walker remained furious.
According to a report by the Daily Mail, an expert lip reader claimed that Maupay taunted the City captain about his children. Fed up with the situation, Walker approached Gillett and lodged a complaint.
Maupay defended himself, denying any such remarks.
Gillett and Attwell tried to calm Walker down, assuring him that they would address the issue after the game. Walker has recently been embroiled in controversy due to his separation from his wife, Annie Kilner. Lauryn Goodman, an influencer and model, revealed that Walker fathered her second child. He has three sons with Kilner and two children, a son and a daughter, with Goodman.
A lip reader reported that Kyle Walker threatened to physically confront Neal Maupay after Maupay made derogatory comments about Walker’s children. Walker stated, “I’m going to knock him out. Ref, he spoke about my kids not once, but twice.” This revelation comes after it was disclosed that Walker has two children with another woman… pic.twitter.com/NFZ1uXNHoc
Furthermore, Walker no longer resides with his family and now rents a separate residence. He has publicly taken responsibility for his mistakes and expressed a desire to move away from the controversy. In an interview with The Sun, he admitted to considering a move to Bayern Munich in order to distance himself from the turmoil.
The Premier League has seen its fair share of players who excel at provoking their opponents, and French striker Neal Maupay is one of them. His first notable incident occurred in 2020 while playing for Brighton, when he clashed with Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno, resulting in a brawl between Maupay and several Arsenal players. At the end of the match, Maupay was choked by Matteo Guendouzi.
In the current season, Maupay has managed to rile up his opponents on three occasions. The first instance took place at Stamford Bridge, where he stepped onto the pitch to prevent Cole Palmer from taking a free kick. He received a booking for his actions.
He later provoked James Maddison by mimicking his darts celebration after scoring against Tottenham Hotspur. Maddison confronted Maupay, and in a post-match interview, he took jabs at him. Maupay also took the spat to Twitter, mocking Maddison’s lack of experience with relegation.