Benjamin Mendy WINS £11m unpaid wages battle against Man City after rape acquittal

French defender Benjamin Mendy, who now plays in Ligue 2 with Lorient, will be repaid money docked by Manchester City following a hearing at an employment tribunal

Benjamin Mendy has won the majority of his £11m claim against Manchester City FC for unpaid wages after the club stopped paying his salary when he was charged with sex offences, an Employment Tribunal judge has ruled.

The French full back, 30, was suspended by City in August 2021 following his arrest for a number of sex offences, including rape. He was remanded in custody for five months with the club withholding his salary until the end of his contract in June 2023.

But in January 2023 Mendy was cleared of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault following a trial lasting several months. And in July 2023 he was then cleared of one count of rape and another of attempted rape in a retrial.

Mendy had to sell his Cheshire mansion to cover legal fees, bills and child support payments - with the court hearing how former team-mates such as Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva helped him out.

In a statement supplied to the employment tribunal last month, the footballer, now playing for Lorient in the French second tier, said: “Several Manchester City first-team players, including the club captain, were all present at the parties that I attended and hosted.

“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.”

There is no suggestion any behaviour from his former team-mates was non-consensual. Mendy, who is being represented by Nick De Marco KC, 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.”

Sean Jones KC, representing the Premier League champions, told the tribunal that Mendy only had himself to blame for not being paid - due to his own irresponsible behaviour - amid reports of hosting parties at his mansion during lockdown and breaking his bail conditions.

He also, in a stiff rebuke, said: "The essence of the submission by Mr Mendy is that his contract creates a moral hazard.
"He says 'I can behave as irresponsibly as I like, I can ignore all the rules, both legal, of the club and common sense to the point where my behaviour results in prison.

"He is trying to make a moral hazard into a virtue. He says ‘It should in no way affect my entitlement to pay. There should be no consequences to my behaviour.'"