Manchester City sign Benjamin Mendy from AS Monaco
Manchester City have signed full-back Benjamin Mendy from AS Monaco, both clubs have confirmed.
Neither club disclosed the fee, but it is believed the deal could be worth up to £52 million.
“I am absolutely delighted to be joining Manchester City,” Mendy told City’s official website. “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.”
Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, added: “Benjamin has all the qualities we are looking for in a full-back. For such a young player, he has a wealth of top-level experience.
“He is undoubtedly one of the world’s best full-backs, our No. 1 target in this position. We are all delighted to have him here at Manchester City.
“I’m sure he will prove a fantastic addition to the squad.”
The 23-year-old left-back was a top target for Guardiola, who wanted to bring three new full-backs to the Etihad this summer after allowing Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy to leave at the end of last season when their contracts expired.
City signed former Tottenham right-back Kyle Walker for a fee that could potentially exceed £50m as well as Danilo from Real Madrid, and Mendy’s arrival fills an opening on the left side of City’s defence.
Premier League champions Chelsea had also been linked to a move for the France international.
The former Marseille man spent just one season at Monaco, playing 25 games and providing five assists in the club’s Ligue 1 title-winning campaign last term.
He supplied a further four assists in the Champions League, where he helped the principality side to the semifinals before bowing out to runners-up Juventus.
Mendy, who began his career at Le Havre, was a youth international at U17, U18, U19 and U21 level for France.
His Monaco contract was set to run until the summer of 2021.
