Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy has won the majority of his legal battle against the Premier League club, securing a claim for over £11 million ($14.2 million) in unpaid wages. The France international filed a lawsuit last year, seeking compensation for the wages City stopped paying him from September 2021 until June 2023, after he was charged with sexual offenses.
Mendy was acquitted of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in January 2023 following a high-profile trial at Chester Crown Court. He was also found not guilty of one count of rape and one of attempted rape after a retrial. The 30-year-old argued that Manchester City unlawfully withheld his wages, despite being cleared of all charges.
In her ruling on Wednesday, Judge Joanne Dunlop stated that Mendy was entitled to recover some of the unpaid wages, though not all of the sums he claimed. Mendy’s legal team argued that he was promised compensation once cleared of charges, but City’s lawyers countered that his inability to perform duties while in custody for breaching bail conditions justified the withheld payments.
Mendy joined Manchester City from AS Monaco in 2017 for a transfer fee of approximately £52 million, with an annual salary of £6 million. After his acquittal, Mendy signed with French club Lorient, currently in Ligue 2.
Manchester City has yet to comment on the ruling, and Mendy has not made an immediate statement regarding the outcome.
