Marseille: Neal Maupay opens up on his De Zerbi exile and the “coach’s son” tag

“When you come in for training and your things are in a Portakabin at the far end of the training ground, when you are on your own doing laps of the pitch and you have no access to the dressing room, you suffer. I’d be lying if I said otherwise.” In an interview with RMC Sport, Neal Maupay describes his last season at Marseille: a freeze-out decided by the club’s directors and by Roberto De Zerbi, months of training on his own, then a loan to Sevilla for the second half of the campaign.

The “coach’s son” answers

One phrase has outlived the episode: according to RMC Sport, De Zerbi had labelled his striker “the coach’s son” at the hardest point of the freeze-out. His reply: “As for me, I don’t treat my children like that. Everyone has their own way, their own way of bringing them up.” Maupay will not spend the winter on it: “I don’t want to stay on this, I need to move forward.” De Zerbi left Marseille mid-season and has since bounced back at Tottenham, down near the foot of the Premier League table.

From the Portakabin to Genesio’s eleven

Back from Andalusia this summer, the 30-year-old former Nice striker, who went through Brentford, Brighton and Everton before joining Marseille in 2024, now plays a different role: one of the voices that count in a young dressing room. Bruno Genesio started him in the last two matches before the break, away to Besiktas (a 4-1 defeat) and then against Paris Saint-Germain (a 2-1 defeat), and Amine Gouiri’s injury should open up more minutes for him.

Marseille have other concerns: one win, four defeats, 17th place in the league, and a trip to Troyes on Sunday evening to close matchday six, away to the side one place above them. The striker’s own tally stays thin: four appearances, 114 minutes, no goals in Ligue 1. The voice carries in the dressing room; the goals are still waiting.