From World Cup winner to £4 per day prisoner

HOW CLEARED BENJAMIN MENDY’S CAREER WENT INTO MELTDOWN OVER ALLEGATIONS

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

NEARLY five years ago, Benjamin Mendy’s wildest dreams had come true. Just a few days before his 24th birthday, he had reached the pinnacle of world football.

Mendy, who’d risen from humble beginnings in the Parisian suburbs, lifted the World Cup trophy as part of a star-studded French squad.

He seemed to have it all - a £4.8m Cheshire mansion, complete with swimming pool and cinema room; a £100,000-a-week salary; and a playboy lifestyle to boot. But in those intervening years, Mendy’s world has come crashing down around him.

Before the time the next World Cup in Qatar came around, Mendy was in prison, earning just £4 a day to feed himself. Despite being cleared following two crown court trials, Mendy’s future in professional football looks uncertain.

Mendy was a jovial figure at his trial. He spent months in the imposing surroundings of Chester Crown Court.

His outward emotions did not portray any indication of just how high the stakes were for him. Making his way inside the Grade I-listed building, past the glare of the photographers and cameramen, he was happy to share a joke with court security staff.

In court, he listened intently, showing no emotion as his accusers laid bare the suffering they claimed he had subjected them to. But when the verdicts came in, his emotion was on show for all to see. Mendy, who turns 29 on Monday, broke down in the dock, wept and hugged his supporters after being told he was a free man.

A career at the highest level of world football was not written in the stars for Benjamin Mendy. The youngest of five children, his parents emigrated to France from their native Senegal before he was born.