Who was Neal Maupay dropped for having an altercation with?
The truth always outs in the end. After Graham Potter initially tried to put the absence of Neal Maupay for Brighton & Hove Albion’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur down to “tactical reasons”, it was later revealed that the French striker had in fact been involved in an altercation in the aftermath of the 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion.
Andy Naylor broke the news on Tuesday after the Daily Telegraph had initially reported on Monday that there were concerns among the Seagulls players and staff that Maupay was getting a little too big for his boots.
Graham Potter used his press conference prior to Friday night’s game with Burnley to try and draw a line under the matter, saying that it was not Maupay’s finest hour but the club now considered the incident over.
Well, bugger that. It is not over until the fat lady sings and she will not be singing until we have got to the bottom of who Neal Maupay had his altercation with.
We put that question to the followers of our WAB Twitter account and some of the answers were… interesting. Here are the leading contenders to have been involved in a row with Maupay.
Maty Ryan
Maty Ryan found himself surprisingly dropped for the Spurs game for Robert Sanchez. Potter’s decision to give his 22-year-old, fourth choice goalkeeper whose only first team experience has come on loan at Forest Green Rovers and Rochdale a debut against the most in-form strike force in the Premier League was astonishing – even if Ryan has been below his best so far in 2020-21.
Which is why a lot of Brighton fans have assumed that there must be more to it. Ryan was the most named player on our Twitter poll as being the other party involved, which would explain why he found himself benched for the first time in his Albion career.
The Australian has talked frequently about his admiration for the All Blacks’ no dickhead policy. If Maupay was being a dickhead, then perhaps Ryan called him out on it?
Ryan always comes across as an incredibly nice chap who you would not expect to get involved in such confrontations, but football is nothing if not surprising.
Or maybe Ryan had seen enough of Maupay failing to put away easy chances at one end whilst he was beaten by most of the efforts that have been on target this season and took umbrage with the striker after the 1-1 draw with West Brom?
As our friends at Fantasy Football Scout revealed in their gameweek 8 preview, the only side to have allowed fewer shots in the Premier League than the Albion have been Manchester City. And yet here were are having conceded 14 goals from seven games.
That record could also explain why Ryan was benched without the need to assume that he was the one getting in an altercation with Neal Maupay.
Aaron Connolly
The absence of Maupay and Ryan from the Spurs game meant that Aaron Connolly’s banishment from the 18 went a little more under the radar. Irishmen who like a drink are traditionally fiery characters; especially one who has found himself having to watch Maupay miss chance after chance from the bench in recent weeks.
Contained within Naylor’s piece in The Athletic which the broke the story of the altercation involving Neal Maupay was one very interesting sentence which suggests Connolly being dropped had nothing to do with Maupaygate.
Naylor claimed that Potter has been so impressed with Andi Zeqiri in training that the £3.5 million signing has leapfrogged Connolly in the pecking order. If true, that is good news for the Albion – especially if Maupay’s ego is beginning to run away from him.
Billy Reid
Some Brighton fans suggested that Maupay and assistant manager Billy Reid may have become involved in a spat. We doubt this very much. A Gallic striker who does a crying celebration against a one-time Scottish defender who looks like he would eat his own children for breakfast?
Reid would have finished off Maupay and then had 10 pints of Tennents and six whiskey chasers in the space of 15 minutes to celebrate.
The ghost of Mark McGhee
Speaking of angry Scots, maybe it was the ghost of Mark McGhee haunting the Amex who lured Neal Maupay into an altercation?
McGhee had a wonderful ability to fall out with players; most notably when he made Mark McCammon get the train home from Burnley after chucking him off the team bus and then tried to repeat trick by leaving Leon Knight in the middle of the New Forest before Southampton away six months later.
McGhee would have loved to deal with a player like Maupay. The only trouble with this theory of course being that McGhee is alive, well and not currently haunting anyone.
Florin Andone
Oh Florin Andone. It was an open secret that the Romanian was an unpopular member of the Albion squad before his departure on loan to Galatasaray last season.
One of our favourite quotes came when journalist Paul Hayward said that Andone could have held his farewell party in a phone box and still had room for more. And that was before Andone gave that interview in which he blamed everyone and anyone else for his troubles at Brighton.
We have seen him involved in a public confrontation with a teammate before too. Prior to his final Brighton appearance when he was sent off for attempting to end the career of Yan Valery after 30 minutes of the Albion’s 2-0 defeat to Southampton last August, Andone managed to wind the normally mild-mannered Bernardo up so much that the Brazilian swung a kick at him.
Can it be coincidence that Andone returns to the Amex and within a matter of months, there is an altercation between two players which ends with Brighton having to drop their top scorer? It would be quite the way for Andone to mark his return.
Percy Tau
We wish.
Bruno
An interesting suggestion this. Bruno had a very close relationship with the last feisty Frenchman to play for Brighton. Having witnessed Anthony Knockaert’s attitude collapse which ultimately led to his move to Fulham, did Bruno stage an intervention before Maupay’s ego took him down a similar path?
Gully
Mascots have been in the news recently following Arsenal’s controversial decision to release Gunnersaurus after 21 years of loyal service to the club.
We have not head much about Gully since Brighton felt the need to issue a ridiculous statement back in March saying that he, Sammy Seagull and Sally Seagull were all being ‘stood down’, as if they were soldiers who had gone rogue in the field rather than six feet tall seagulls.
Did Gully return to the Amex to seek revenge for being ‘stood down’ on Maupay? Mascots can be vicious buggers, as anyone who remembers Swansea City’s Cyril the Swan or the fight between Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Wolfie and THE Three Little Pigs at Bristol City can attest to.
Liz Costa
Another left-field suggestion. Liz Costa v Maupay? Our money would be on Liz every time.
The mirror
More than one Brighton fan put forward the theory that there had been no altercation between Neal Maupay and another club employee – instead, the French striker had managed to get into a fight with himself in the mirror.
It is common knowledge now that he has developed a bit of an ego after scoring 14 Premier League goals in 43 career appearances, so you never know…
