Several Manchester City first-team players were present at alcohol-fuelled sex parties also attended by Benjamin Mendy, the former Etihad Stadium defender has claimed.
It had been confirmed 11 months ago that Mendy would be taking his former club to an employment tribunal over millions of pounds he claimed he was owed in unauthorised wage deductions.
Having left Manchester City at the end of his contract prior to the start of the 2023 summer transfer window, Mendy had also been cleared of a series of rape and attempted rape charges made against him.
It is alleged that the four-time successive Premier League champions had stopped paying Mendy in September 2021 after he was initially charged and held in custody, with leading UK sports lawyer Nick De Marco handling Mendy’s case against the club.
Now, in a written statement contained within a supplementary evidence bundle presented to an employment tribunal, Benjamin Mendy has stated that his behaviour in attending alcohol-fuelled sex parties was nothing unique within the Manchester City first-team squad.
“Several Manchester City first team players, including the club captain, were all present at the parties that I attended and hosted,” claims Mendy. There is no suggestion that any behaviour was non-consensual.
The Frenchman continued, “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.”
Benjamin Mendy does not name any of the Manchester City players he is referring to in his witness statement, whilst at the time of the defender being initially investigated by police, Fernandinho was club captain.
Earlier in Benjamin Mendy’s career at the Etihad Stadium, the now-Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany and David Silva had been club captains, with the current club captain being England international Kyle Walker.
Mendy continued in his statement, “I can’t help but feel that the club are trying to paint a narrative that I was acting recklessly, and my alleged recklessness led to me being arrested for crimes I did not commit.
“I would just like to stress that at the time in question, I was doing nothing different than several of Manchester City’s first-team players.”
“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.”
Benjamin Mendy was originally remanded in custody for a period of five months before being released on bail in January 2022, and then went to trial for the first time in August 2022.
In January 2023, the former France international was cleared of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, before being subsequently cleared of raping a woman and attempting to rape another in the following July at a retrial.
