Benjamin Mendy claims ‘several’ Man City players ‘including the club captain’ joined him at alcohol-fuelled parties and had ‘casual relations with women’

Mendy was denied his £6m-a-year salary as he awaited trial after being charged with four counts of rape. He was found not guilty of the charges last year and resumed his career with Lorient in France. The 30-year-old is now taking action, alleging that his team-mates attended the alcohol-fuelled events and that City were aware of this. Mendy didn’t name any of the players he is referring to and there is no suggestion any of the behaviour was non-consensual. Midfielder Fernandinho was the club captain when Mendy was initially investigated by police, and Vincent Kompany and David Silva had been captains earlier in his City career.

• WHAT MENDY SAID

  “Several Manchester City first-team players, including the club captain, were all present at the parties that I attended and hosted,” Mendy said in a statement, via the Telegraph. “We all drank alcohol. We all had casual relations with women. We all breached Covid-19 restrictions. This does not excuse my behaviour, but I feel that it is unfair for Manchester City to single me out in the way that they have. The difference between me and the other Manchester City players is that I was the one that was falsely accused of rape and publicly humiliated.”

  Mendy added: “I can’t help but feel that the club are trying to paint a narrative that I was acting recklessly, and my alleged recklessness led to me being arrested for crimes I did not commit. I would just like to stress that at the time in question, I was doing nothing different than several of Manchester City’s first-team players.”

• TELL ME MORE

  City didn’t pay Mendy from September 2021 until his contract with the club expired in June 2023 as they deemed him unavailable for work during the legal process, which included a trial and a retrial.

  The World Cup winner added: “I was just as ready, willing and able to perform my duties as the other Manchester City players that Manchester City knew attended the parties, and on Manchester City’s account, acted recklessly. I am not, however, aware of Manchester City deducting or suspending the pay of any of the other players even when it was public knowledge that such players had attended the parties. I do, therefore, feel it incredibly unjust that Manchester City effectively singled me out from the team when I was doing nothing different to the rest of the team.”

• • AFP

    WHAT NEXT?

    Mendy made 15 appearances for Lorient in Ligue 1 last season but has been frozen out by the club’s new manager Olivier Pantaloni and told that he doesn’t have a future with Les Merlus.