FROM JOB CENTRE TO THE BRIDGE
New Chelsea keeper Mendy’s been on a remarkable journey...
EVEN before this summer’s move to London, space was tight on the c.v. of Edouard Mendy. His work experience has swelled in the six years since he pencilled in an 8.45am appointment at the job centre.
On that day in 2014, his first day of ‘ real life’, the employment adviser told him: ‘ I can’t do anything for you.’ At 22, Mendy had been promised a move to England’s League One only for his agent to leave him jobless.
He considered quitting football but persevered. Now Chelsea hope to be the beneficiaries.
Frank Lampard insists he hasn’t decided on his No 1 keeper but he didn’t pay a Ligue 1 record fee for a benchwarmer.
‘Mendy comes in to be competition,’ said Lampard yesterday. ‘ We know we’veve had goalkeeping problems. lems. We can be honest and open about that — and Kepa himself.’ So with Mendy not yet ready, today’s trip to West Brom is surely Kepa Arrizabalaga’s last chance?
His new rival cost t £ 22million from m Rennes — the same ame finishing school which produced Petr Cech. ch
It is perhaps no surprise Cech is among those tasked with solving their goalkeeping problems.
‘Why would you not tap into having the best goalkeeper in the world, which he was for a long time, to pass on that knowledge?’ Lampard added. Now 28, Senegal international Mendy is poised to reap the rewards.
His route to London began in Caucriauville, one of France’s banlieues that produce so many footballing diamonds.
Mendy’s neighbourhood was littered with pitches which acted as an escape route. ‘That’s why lots of kids are able to leave the area,’ says Yero Sarr who ran Mendy’s first club, Havre Caucriauville Sportif. ‘He was always a keeper, but he would play outfield too, he had very good feet.’
The following year, Mendy and his team-mates enjoyed a tour to Brighton, where the seeds were sown. ‘I thought English football was amazing,’ he said this week.
‘We went into a shop and I saw the Chelsea shirt and I bought it.’ The following year he joined Le Havre’s fabled academy before moving to Cherbourg. England was meant to be next — instead he was on the scrapheap.
‘When you are unemployed, you tell yourself that you are not going to find a way out,’ MendMendy later reflected. And the message frofrom the job centre was not encouraging, either. ‘ My adviser asked me what I wanted to do for a living,’ rrecalled Mendy.
‘I answered “football”. He rereplied that at somsome point we woulwould have to think of somethsomething else.’ Offers would arrive, but with a baby on the way, he couldn’t afford the insecurity of short-term deals.
‘At that point, I said to myself, “It’s dead. I’m going to stop football and I am going to work”.’
A friend was opening a shop. He could man the tills.
In 2015 came a lifeline. A former team-mate rang to say Marcelo Bielsa was on the hunt for a backup keeper at Marseille. Mendy spoke with goalkeeping coach Dominique Bernatowicz, who offered him a trial. ‘ I said straight away, “We have to sign him”,’ said Bernatowicz. He was struck by Mendy’s reflexes and flexibility at nearly 6ft 6in: ‘We called him an elastic man.’ They offered him a two- year deal but Mendy chose Ligue 2 side Reims where he signed a first professional deal at 24. Then, after leading them to the 2017-18 title, he enjoyed a topflight bow at 26. Offers came in from England but he picked Rennes for his next move. Last season Mendy’s star continued to rise and Chelsea heads were turned.
Both Cech, technical adviser, and Christophe Lollichon, head of goalkeeping, worked at Rennes and their faith in the set-up is one reason why Mendy was chosen.