Benjamin Mendy scarcely featured for Manchester City in its record Premier League-winning season. Now he’s taking selfies with the World Cup trophy and teaching the President of France how to dab. Mendy played in just seven of City’s 38 games, racking up 361 minutes — or 10.5 per cent of play time — in their season. Because he featured in more than five games, he was eligible for a Champions medal.
Now Mendy is a World Cup champion after one appearance for 40 minutes off the bench against Denmark — or just 6.3 per cent of France’s total play time. Having then appeared on the field for just 9.9 per cent of all regulation game minutes (or 90 minutes per game) this season, he owns two of world football’s most prized titles.
With no other player having represented both City and France in this World Cup (City defenders Eliaquim Mangala and Aymeric Laporte were not selected in Didier Deschamp’s squad), Mendy is now one of football’s most successful if not lucky players of the past year. Mendy arrived at City from Monaco for the 2017/18 PL season with a hefty £52 million ($A92m) price tag and the expectation of being Pep Guardiola’s first choice at left back. But a serious knee injury in September derailed his first City campaign and by the time he was fit to return, England utility Fabian Delph had found a regular place on the left side of Guardiola’s rearguard.
A promising young player with pace and deft skill, Mendy was called up by Deschamps to France’s 23-man World Cup squad. Yet in Russia he played second fiddle to Lucas Hernandez, who earned rave reviews and a place in many pundits’ World Cup best XI. But Mendy, who’s won praise for his attitude and rapport with supporters, has emerged as one of the unlikeliest big winners in football. Not even he’d have believed what was to come his way when he ruptured his ACL 10 months ago.