Benjamin Mendy says ‘several’ Manchester City players joined his sex parties as he launched an £11m unpaid wages claim against his former club.
The 30-year-old was suspended by the Premier League champions in 2021 after being charged with four counts of rape, leaving at the end of his contract in 2023.
City refused to pay his salary as he awaited trial – but after he was acquitted last year on all counts – Mendy has now taken City to a tribunal over his lost wages.
‘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 written statement. There is no suggestion that any behaviour was non-consensual.
‘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.’
Why did Man City stop paying Benjamin Mendy?
From September 2021 until the expiry of his contract in June 2023, Manchester City did not pay Benjamin Mendy his £6,000,000-a-year salary.
That’s because the Premier League champions deemed him unavailable for work during his bail and subsequent trial and retrial.
He did not name the players he was specifically referring to – but the club’s captain was Fernandinho when Mendy was first being probed by the police.
Vincent Kompany and David Silva were club captains earlier in Mendy’s spell at the Etihad while City’s current club captain is England international Kyle Walker.
‘I can’t help but feel that the club are trying to paint a narrative that I was acting recklessly,’ Mendy added.
‘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.’
Mendy, capped 10 times by France, is currently playing for FC Lorient in the second tier of French football, joining them in July 2023 on a free transfer after the expiry of his City contract. He was at the Etihad for a total of six years, having joined the club in 2017 from Monaco.
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