Benjamin Mendy, Manchester City and an explosive £11 million claim at the tribunal

It was the day Benjamin Mendy faced Manchester City in an employment tribunal and we heard the extraordinary details of his multi-million pound battle with the Premier League champions.

On the one hand, there was the French international footballer who was acquitted in two separate trials of multiple charges of rape and other sexual offenses while living a wild lifestyle of hard partying with a number of City teammates.

On the other side was City, who had paid him a fortune and seemed increasingly reliant on lawyers and barristers like Pep Guardiola and their string of star footballers.

A series of explosive revelations emerged:

• Mendy claims City owe him £11 million ($14.3 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses, saying the club “took the position from the start that I was to blame”.
• The City left-back was caught hiding in the cupboard of a house in Salford after police launched a manhunt for him.
• According to his evidence, Mendy’s infamous parties were attended by first-team players including Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker and John Stones.
• The player cited the case of Mason Greenwood, then at Manchester United, as evidence that other players had been treated more favorably by their clubs and the FA.
• Mendy has gone through “several bankruptcy hearings” after falling into serious financial trouble because, he says, City refused to pay him.

Mendy’s case against City is, in short, that his employers assumed he would go to prison and unlawfully withdrew his salary for almost two years before his contract expired in June 2023.

In a statement included in a 1,420-page bundle of documents presented to the tribunal, the 30-year-old said: ‘Despite the support I received from a number of players, I felt that Manchester City as a club had the view that I was guilty from the start and decided not to support me at all, otherwise it would be seen that I had something to do with me.

(Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

Mendy, who now plays for French club Lorient, was acquitted in 2023 of seven charges of rape and another of sexual assault. In his own words, he was “wrongfully arrested for crimes I did not commit” and “his life was turned upside down forever.”

But City’s argument is that Mendy engaged in ‘reckless conduct’ and continued to behave unprofessionally even after being arrested by police and suspended by the FA.

This included hosting a number of sex parties where he invited a variety of women, many of whom he had never met before, to his Cheshire country home, willfully ignoring his bail conditions and Covid-19 lockdown rules.

The tribunal was reminded that Mendy had been asked in police interviews how easy it was for him, as a footballer with fame and fortune, to meet women and have sex. “When I see (women), so easy,” he replied.

Asked if that has changed since joining City, the former Monaco player said: “It’s about tenfold.”

While the rest of the country was in lockdown, Mendy continued to throw parties, regularly getting drunk and staying up until the early hours. This got back to City and on January 6, 2021, he was fined a week’s wages. Mendy’s response, according to the documents, was that he would have another party the next evening.

Another party was held on December 31 and another on New Year’s Day, which lasted until 4am, even though the team had a match against Chelsea two days later. City won 3-1, with Mendy as a substitute.

Mendy’s statement includes details of his six-year contract, including that he earned a fixed salary of £6 million per year, as well as some eye-watering bonuses. He received at least £1.2 million in image rights every year, on top of an appearance bonus of £900,000 if he played in 60 percent of matches and a one-off payment of £1 million if City qualified for the Champions League – an achievement for a club with City’s ambitions, that is seen as the bare minimum.

Other bonuses meant Mendy would have earned £700,000 for winning the Champions League, £350,000 for the Premier League, £100,000 for the FA Cup and £50,000 for the EFL Cup, the Super Cup or the FIFA Club World Cup.

However, the player claims that City’s refusal to pay his salary “nearly bankrupted me” and that three of his former teammates lent him money “to pay my legal fees and support my family.” His documents also include transcripts of his texts to Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the city’s chairman, pleading with him to “resolve the situation” of his unpaid wages. No response from Khaldoon was recorded.

Mendy asked Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak to resolve his wage issue (Oli Scarff/AFP)

“I would just like to emphasize that at that time I was not interfering with a number of Manchester City first-team players,” Mendy said in a statement to the tribunal. “Several players … were all present at the parties I attended and organized.

“This is not an excuse for my behaviour, but I think it is unfair that Manchester City singles me out in the way they did. The difference between me and my Manchester City teammates is that I was the one who was falsely accused of rape and was publicly humiliated.”

Mendy went on to highlight an article in The Athletics from January 2023 which named Mahrez, Grealish, Walker, Sterling and Stones as being with Mendy on the nights of the alleged sex attacks. “I can confirm this is true,” Mendy wrote in the documents. “All of those players attended the parties that led to the charges.”

Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy attended parties together during their time at City (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

He added: “I was as ready, willing and able to carry out my duties as the other Manchester City players who (the club) knew were attending the parties and, according to City, acted recklessly. However, I am not aware of Manchester City withholding or suspending the pay of any of the other players while it was public knowledge that (they) had attended the parties.

“I therefore find it incredibly unfair that Manchester City effectively removed me from the team, while I did nothing different from the rest of the team.”

Mendy appeared at the tribunal via video link, wearing a gray shirt and tie, and was questioned by Sean Jones, a QC representing the Premier League club. The player accepted that City had paid him extremely well.

City’s argument is that it was “impossible” to involve Mendy due to the FA’s suspension, his bail conditions and the time he spent in custody. The player was required to observe a 6 p.m. curfew. He was unable to travel to Manchester within the confines of the M60 motorway and had to surrender his passport after flying to Paris while under investigation.

“The Covid regulations – you knew about them, but they didn’t stop you having your parties, do we agree?” Jones asked him.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Mendy replied, accepting that it was not professional, “in the sense that I know I could have behaved better, to sleep early, to rest, to be 100 percent on the field.”

“You were paid an extremely large sum of money,” Jones continued, “and shortly before you joined Chelsea you were partying, yes?”

“Yes,” said Mendy.

Mendy now plays for Lorient in Ligue 1 (Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images)

“Did you think to yourself it was a terrible idea to keep partying?” And you say, ‘No’. That’s because you didn’t care, right? You just didn’t care that you did wrong. The truth is you don’t care if what you did breached regulations, police bail or exposed you to risk.’

Mendy replied: “Yes at the time.”

His refusal to adhere to his bail led to him being jailed and in September 2021 he received a letter from the Premier League champions.

“I am writing to confirm that, after careful and anxious consideration, the club has suspended the payment of your salary to you,” the club informed him. “You will also receive no further payment until you are ready and able to fulfill your obligations under your employment contract.

“You are obviously not ready and able to carry out your duties at this time because you have been taken into custody and separately because the FA has suspended you from participating in football-related activities.”

Omar Berrada, previously City’s chief football operations officer, was among the witnesses who gave evidence and said he could remember a number of players, including Mendy, who had broken Covid rules.

In a series of tense exchanges with Mendy’s KC, Nick de Marco, Berrada said no disciplinary action had been taken against any of the five players who attended the party at Mendy’s house that led to the police investigation.

Berrada, now the CEO of Manchester United, repeatedly avoided answering De Marco’s questions, saying: “That’s a question for the club’s (City’s) lawyers”, and was at one point told by the judge that this was not an acceptable answer.

On the first morning of the hearing, Mendes’ agent claimed that he had made an agreement with Berrada that, in the event of a not guilty verdict, the player would receive the money he was owed. Berrada said that wasn’t true.

The tribunal will continue on Tuesday.

Additional reporting: Dan Sheldon

(Top photo: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)