Defender is happy to listen to Pep over return
BENJAMIN Mendy was happy to cut short his holiday to get back to work under Pep Guardiola.
The City defender would have been forgiven for missing the pre-season tour given his involvement in the France squad that won the World Cup final less than two weeks ago.
But the left-back was keen to return after a chat with his manager as he continues his recovery from an injury that saw him miss the majority of his debut season at the Etihad.
“It’s better for me,” he said. “I prefer to take a few days’ holiday and get ready for the season and the future because I go with the national team and I didn’t really play.
“So it’s better for me to make sure I get ready in a good way.
“I spoke with Pep and he tells me this is the best for me and I know that he knows everything. I listen to him and it’s better.”
Mendy has been a key member of the squad despite barely playing thanks to his sense of fun, but the Frenchman has a serious side and is determined to get back to doing what he loves best.
Having won Ligue 1 in 2017 with Monaco and then the Premier League with City last season, a personal treble is the target to continue a remarkable run of success.
“The shark team is what I said when we started,” said Mendy.
“We need to eat everything and that is what we do. We need to keep going.” FIND somebody that looks at you like Benjamin Mendy looks at his World Cup winner’s medal.
“This is my skin now,” the City defender beamed as he pressed the gold against his forearm.
“For four years it’s my skin for a life. In four years we have a new World Cup but now we are the kings.”
It has been a truly incredible 12 months for the 24-year-old. A £52m move to the Etihad after impressing for Monaco’s title-winners in 2017 looked like it would see Mendy help revolutionise Pep Guardiola’s team, only for a knee ligament injury to sideline him for the best part of eight months.
It meant Mendy made just seven appearances in City’s record-breaking Premier League title win and played just 40 minutes as France claimed the greatest team prize football can offer.
As one City fan joked on Twitter, the player averaged a trophy for every three-and-a-half games last season.
His prolific social media game has attracted scorn from those that contrast his medals with his minutes on the pitch, but as Mendy pulls his World Cup medal out of his pocket to make the day of a few more people, he really couldn’t care.
“Some people can say I didn’t play a lot, I don’t deserve this or that, but if I can take then I’ll take. You have to take everything.
“To win the title you need [spirit]. You need to have a very big team and a big family with the teammates and staff too.
“I felt this at Monaco when we won, when we had a very good team. With this group for me it’s this way, the way we take with Man City.
“We can use everything. For me, this is the best way to win trophies.”
Mendy’s influence on the team has been highlighted by his teammates and Pep Guardiola, and his charge down the touchline on crutches to capture Raheem Sterling’s late winner against Southampton on his Snapchat epitomised the brilliant, bonkers exuberance that the charismatic Frenchman can whip up.
Even when he is at his most exasperating for club officials – such as wanting to swim with sharks in Miami rather than simply feed them – the former Le Havre youngster is infectiously positive and nobody has a bad word.
Here in Miami, he has been generous with his time in showing (rather than showing off) his World Cup medal to anyone interested and while the taunts for his teammates may come, there will not be a hint of nastiness or disrespect.
“Before we were going [to the World Cup], everybody was talking about their country,” he said. “I said that you’ll see the French win but some other guys said no.
“After we played we spoke but every time it’s with respect.
“When we won against Argentina I spoke with Kun [Sergio Aguero] straight after the game with a text.
“When England won their quarter-final I spoke with Raz [Sterling] and Kyle [Walker]. Everything is like this.
“So when I come back I don’t go “waaaaaaah!” I say hi and we speak.”
What would really put a smile on Mendy’s face now is to get back on the pitch with City. So crucial was he so immediately to the team that Guardiola had to change his whole set-up when injury struck, but after racking up 100 Premier League points and a slew of records the manager has to weigh up the best way of reintegrating his defender to the team. From the moment Mendy knew things were serious back in September, his thoughts turned to when he would be able to return. Having come back early for pre-season training to show his commitment to Guardiola, the left-back can’t wait to get started again.
“In the first session in the gym I couldn’t work. I just had to flex my knee,” he recalled.
“I asked when I can start work. After two or three weeks they said I could work. Then I asked when I can run.
“All the time I was asking about when I can do the next thing. I was always asking. The time went so quick. “I remember when I went to the hospital in Barcelona, I asked before my surgery whether I could go to the World Cup. [Dr Cugat] said: ‘I’m not a magician, but normally yes.’ That was my goal. “After this, winning the World Cup, I work and run and do everything.
“Really, I didn’t have any low moments [being injured]. When I go to the hospital some people [are worse than] me. It’s just one knee though. The doctor told me you come back after a year and I’ve come back.
“Some people have a big problem so I don’t have a reason to have a bad face. Every day I was happy. I worked, saw my friends, so I’m happy.
“I want to play. When you win one time you want to win a second time. You don’t want to stop.
“I am so, so, so excited for keeping going like this with the team.” Benjamin Mendy