Former Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy was forced to stop playing football after he was charged with rape and sexual assault, a move that also saw his wages stopped.
An employment tribunal has now revealed that Mendy lent money from his teammates when Man City stopped paying him after he was charged.
Current and former players Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez supported the French international, who now claims to be owed £11.5 million in unpaid wages by the Premier League champions.
The 30-year-old’s £500,000 per month wage was withheld by the club after he was charged in 2021, the tribunal was told.
Mendy who now plays for French Ligue 2 club Lorient, brought employment tribunal proceedings against Manchester City, claiming for “unauthorised deductions” from wages.
His contract showed he would also receive a £900,000 bonus for appearing in 60% of matches, a £1 million bonus if City qualified for the Champions League, and an annual £1.2m payment to his image rights company.
Benjamin Mendy reacts as he leaves Chester Crown Court in Chester, northwest England, on June 28, 2023. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP) (Photo by DARREN STAPLES/AFP via Getty Images)
Court documents shared with the Manchester employment tribunal said Mr Mendy “very quickly ran out of money” and had to sell his Cheshire mansion to cover legal fees, bills and child support payments after his wages were withheld.
“I struggled to pay my child support, I felt awful,” the footballer said in a witness statement.
Mr Mendy said his agent, Meissa N’diaye, paid towards his legal fees, while teammates including England international Sterling offered “financial support”.
“Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez all lent me money to help me try and pay my legal fees and support my family,” he said in his statement.
Mendy described his 2021 charging as the day “my life was turned upside down forever.”
Appearing via videolink, Mendy told the tribunal he and his agent Mr N’diaye had been assured by Man City’s then chief football operating officer Omar Berrada that he would receive his unpaid wages once he had been cleared of the charges.
The footballer sent Mr Berrada a WhatsApp message in November 2022, asking if he could confirm in writing that the wages would be paid, the tribunal heard.
But Mr Berrada did not reply to the message, and denied ever having made such an assurance.
The club continued paying Mendy following his first arrest in November 2020, but has argued it did not have to carry on doing so later because his bail conditions and Football Association suspension meant he was not able to perform his duties as a player.
Mendy was found not guilty of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in January 2023, but the same jury could not reach a verdict on another count of rape and one count of attempted rape.
It saw a retrial and Mendy was found not guilty of one charge of rape and one charge of attempted rape.
In April, a High Court tax debt case against Mr Mendy was dismissed after he paid a £700,000 bill. The employment tribunal is expected to last for two days.
