Background and career
Benjamin Mendy (French pronunciation: [bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃ mɛndi]; born 17 July 1994) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ekstraklasa club Pogoń Szczecin. After coming through Le Havre's youth academy, Mendy began his playing career with the club's reserve team in 2010, being promoted to the first team a year later. He remained with the club until 2013, when he joined Ligue 1 club Marseille. Mendy spent the next three seasons with Les Olympiens before leaving for Monaco, with whom he won the national championship in 2016–17. In 2017, Mendy moved to English club Manchester City for a reported £52 million, then the world-record transfer fee for a defender. He won the Premier League in his first season in England. In 2021, Mendy was arrested on allegations of sexual offences and suspended by City. He was acquitted of all charges against him in two trials in 2023. He was released by Manchester City in June 2023 and returned to Ligue 1 with Lorient. In 2025, he briefly played for Zürich of the Swiss Super League before moving to Pogoń Szczecin in Poland later that year. Mendy made his senior debut for France in 2017 after previously being capped by France youth teams at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 levels. He was chosen in France's squad for the 2018 World Cup, which they won.
On 24 July 2011, Mendy signed his first professional contract, a three-year contract with Ligue 2 club Le Havre. Mendy made his professional debut on 9 August 2011 in the team's 2–1 Coupe de la Ligue second-round defeat to Amiens.
On 8 July 2013, Mendy signed for Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille. Mendy was signed by manager Élie Baup, who had led Marseille to a second-place finish and qualification for the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League in the previous season. He made his club and Ligue 1 debut on 11 August against Guingamp, and scored his first goal for Marseille on 24 September against Saint-Étienne. Mendy was in the squad for all six group-stage matches, and made his European debut on 1 October at Borussia Dortmund. However, Marseille lost all their group-stage matches while falling out of the competition, and Baup was sacked in favor of former club manager José Anigo. Mendy was sparingly used toward the end of the season by Anigo, and made just one start in Marseille's final fourteen games. His performance in the start, against Lille on 20 April 2014, was criticized by former Marseille left-back Éric Di Meco, who claimed he would "eat a rat" if Mendy ever made the France national team. After the season, Mendy was included on the 40-man shortlist for the 2014 Golden Boy award. Mendy developed his game the following season under Argentinian manager Marcelo Bielsa, as Mendy claimed Bielsa had "given back to him the strength and aggressiveness lost last year." Mendy made 33 starts in the league in the 2014–15 campaign, getting 6 assists, as Marseille qualified for the Europa League. On 23 September 2015, Mendy was shown a straight red card shortly after coming on as a substitute against Toulouse, after he committed a professional foul on Toulouse's Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro. Mendy would be given a two-match ban, and later missed a further 13 games for Marseille after picking up a hamstring injury against Caen in the Coupe de France on 3 January 2016. Mendy played for five different managers in three seasons at the Stade Vélodrome. He made 101 competitive appearances with the club and had 14 assists to his name.
On 22 June 2016, Olympique de Marseille's Ligue 1 rivals Monaco announced that they had signed Mendy on a five-year contract. Mendy made his debut for the club in the first leg of the Champions League third round against Turkish club Fenerbahçe on 27 July. On 18 December against Lyon in Ligue 1, Mendy was shown a red card for kicking at the backside of Lyon midfielder Corentin Tolisso. This was his second dismissal of the season after he was sent off in the play-off round of the Champions League against Villarreal. Mendy was banned for five matches for the incident, later reduced to four as he made his return against Lorient on 22 January 2017. On 4 February, Mendy assisted two of Monaco's goals by crossing the ball to the scorers Valère Germain and Radamel Falcao in their 3–0 Ligue 1 home win over Nice. Mendy scored his first goal for Monaco in the Coupe de France against former club Marseille on 1 March. The goal, scored in extra time, gave Monaco a 3–2 lead, as Mendy also provided two assists in the 4–3 victory. Monaco made a run to the semi-finals of the Champions League, and Mendy provided 4 assists in the campaign before they were eliminated by Juventus. Mendy was a key part of Monaco's 2016–17 Ligue 1 championship season, making 24 starts in the league for Les Monégasques under manager Leonardo Jardim. Monaco scored a league-leading 107 goals during the season, and Mendy was noted along with fellow full-back Djibril Sidibé for their forward play. On 16 May, Mendy was named to the 2017 UNFP Team of the Year, along with 5 of his teammates. The next day, Monaco clinched the Ligue 1 title against Saint-Étienne on the penultimate day of the season, their first in 17 seasons in what would be Mendy's final game with the club. After the season, Mendy was part of the exodus away from the Stade Louis II that included starlets Bernardo Silva, Tiémoué Bakayoko, and later Kylian Mbappé.
On 24 July 2017, it was announced that Premier League club Manchester City had signed Mendy on a six-year contract, for a fee reported to be £52 million. The transfer fee eclipsed the previous record for a defender, set ten days prior by City on teammate Kyle Walker. On 23 September, Mendy sustained an injury against Crystal Palace, hurting his right knee in a challenge against Palace forward Andros Townsend. The club later confirmed that he had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, and he underwent surgery in Barcelona on 29 September. Mendy returned from injury on 22 April 2018, as a 75th-minute substitute for Fabian Delph in a game against Swansea City at the City of Manchester Stadium. This appearance gave him the minimum five league games required to receive a Premier League winners' medal. In the 2018–19 season, Mendy played in 10 of the first 12 Premier League games for City, assisting five goals in the process. On 14 November 2018, days after the 3–1 win against Manchester United, it was announced Mendy had once again undergone surgery in Barcelona for a cartilage problem in his left knee, and was expected to be out for 12 weeks. On 28 November 2020, Mendy scored his first goal for City in a 5–0 home league win over Burnley. On 15 August 2021, he featured in the opening match of the 2021–22 season in a 1–0 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur, to be his last match at the club. In August 2021, he was suspended by Manchester City after having been accused and charged with rape by several women and he ceased to play for the club while under suspension. Having not played in nearly two years due to his arrest, City announced they would release Mendy when his contract expired on 30 June 2023.
On 19 July 2023, 23 months after his last appearance in professional football, Mendy signed a two-year contract with Ligue 1 club Lorient. Club owner Loïc Féry refused to comment when asked about the signing by radio station France Bleu. On 17 September, he made his debut for Lorient, coming off the bench in a 2–2 draw against Monaco. On 10 December, he scored his first goal since his return to football, in a 4–2 home loss to former club Marseille. Affected by injury, Mendy took no part in 2024–25. He finished his spell at Lorient with 15 appearances, two goals and one assist.
