Advertisement
Mendy is unveiled by Man City. Twitter/ManCity

Man City pay world-record fee for a defender to add Monaco full-back to their ranks

France international Benjamin Mendy joins Kyle Walker, Danilo, Ederson and former team-mate Bernardo Silva as Pep Guardiola’s summer arrivals.

MONACO FULL-BACK Benjamin Mendy has signed a mega five-year contract with Manchester City, the Premier League club announced today.

The 23-year-old, who joined the French champions from Marseille last summer, has agreed a deal reported to be worth a record £52 million (€58m) for a defender.

The France player will link up with his new team-mates in the United States where Pep Guardiola’s side are preparing for their second pre-season tour game against Real Madrid in Los Angeles.

“I am absolutely delighted to be joining Manchester City,” Mendy said. “They are one of Europe’s leading Clubs and in Pep Guardiola they have a manager committed to playing attacking football.

I am sure that over the next few years we will be successful.”

Guardiola was desperate to add Mendy to his full-back options after releasing Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta this summer, but City’s original £44.5m (€49.7m) offer was rejected.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss had already lured Tottenham’s England right-back Kyle Walker to Etihad Stadium in a deal which could be worth up to £54m (€60.1m) and Monaco wanted a similar amount for Mendy.

Mendy becomes City’s fifth major signing of the summer and takes their spending to more than £200m (€223m).

The Premier League giants, who have already raided Monaco in the close season having signed midfielder Bernardo Silva, and on Sunday welcomed another full-back, Real Madrid’s Danilo.

Mendy made his France debut in a 3-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Luxembourg in March, and won Ligue 1 in his first season with Monaco.

© – AFP 2017

The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!

Unsettled Virgil van Dijk left out of Southampton’s pre-season trip to France and training alone

‘No way’ – Ancelotti dismisses rumours linking Arturo Vidal with summer move to Manchester United

Author
View 28 comments
Close
28 Comments
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.