Simon Jordan says Neal Maupay has to be a ‘wind-up merchant’ due to his ‘lack of talent’

Simon Jordan has savaged Neal Maupay for his comments about his antics being ‘entertainment’.

The Brentford striker stole the headlines in January when he copied James Maddison’s dart-throwing celebration and got an angry reaction.

In the next match against Manchester City, Maupay provoked a furious response from Kyle Walker, with speculation that it was regarding the defender’s high-profile personal struggles.

It’s far from the first time the Frenchman has managed to get an opponent to bite at his antics, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Maupay will face City again on Tuesday night, live and exclusively on talkSPORT, having justified his antics in the media, but Jordan wasn’t having any of it.

The former Crystal Palace owner and talkSPORT host was responding to an interview Maupay did in The Times after a number of high-profile incidents this season, and wasn't having any of his comments.

“When I think of characters I think of Paulo Di Canio, Rodney Marsh, Stanley Bowles, Tony Currie, players of that ilk that could entertain on and off the pitch, he’s just a wind-up merchant, I don’t think he’s a character,” Jordan began.

“Do I think winding players up is part of the sport? Yeah I think he should be able to give it back to the Spurs players who over-celebrate. But I don’t think there’s anything to admire about it.

“Kyle Walker’s got himself into enough problems, but if Neal Maupay feels the need to sledge players on the pitch, I don’t think it’s admirable, I think they should rise above it and ignore him because he couldn’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo.”

Further slamming the striker, Jordan continued: “On the football pitch he’s antagonistic, he’s one of those that irritates you like an itch you can’t scratch, they want to kick him off the pitch into the touchline I imagine, so that’s why he’s got that attitude towards him.

“He tries to characterise it as an endearing trait, he’s a wind-up merchant and they don’t tend to be particularly endearing.

“It’s incumbent upon them to rise above it because it’s only effective because he hasn’t got enough talent to do it with his talent.

“It’s a tragedy for Everton fans that they never saw him do anything vaguely resembling something meaningful for them with his feet.”

City manager Pep Guardiola was also asked about Maupay ahead of the return fixture, and tried to play the previous conflict down.

“No I don’t want it but sometimes there’s emotions and things happen,” he said. “We know that and it’s forgotten, it happened, I think they’ve talked and that’s it.”