Trending 
Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy borrowed money from his teammates to cover legal fees and child support payments after being charged with sexual offences, an employment tribunal was told on Monday.
Mendy is pursuing a claim of £11.5 million in unpaid wages from Manchester City, which stopped his salary payments following his 2021 charges of rape and sexual assault.
In January 2023, the ex-France international was acquitted of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, but the jury could not reach a decision on another rape charge and one attempted rape charge. Following a retrial, Mendy was cleared of the remaining allegations.
The footballer, who signed for Manchester City from Monaco for a reported £52 million in 2017, left the club in June 2023 after his contract expired.
Documents presented to the Manchester employment tribunal revealed that Mendy “very quickly ran out of money” and was forced to sell his Cheshire mansion to cover his legal costs, bills, and child support, as his wages had been withheld.
In his witness statement, Mendy said, “I struggled to pay my child support, I felt awful.” He also revealed that his former teammates Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, and Riyad Mahrez lent him money to help him manage his legal expenses and support his family.
Currently playing for French Ligue 2 side Lorient, Benjamin Mendy stated that a senior Manchester City official had assured him he would receive his unpaid wages once he was acquitted of the charges.
The club continued to pay Mendy’s £500,000 per month salary after his initial arrest in November 2020. However, they argued that they were not obliged to continue paying once he was formally charged, as his bail conditions and an FA suspension prevented him from fulfilling his duties as a player.
“At no point have Manchester City apologised to me or even acknowledged how their actions almost cost me everything,” Benjamin Mendy said in his statement. “I believe that it is fair and just for me to be paid the wages that I would have earned but for being falsely arrested for crimes that I did not commit.”
The employment tribunal is expected to conclude within two days.
