Speaking recently on the Football Writers Podcast, Seb Stafford-Bloor discussed the problems of Manchester City left-back, Benjamin Mendy.
Since moving to Manchester City from Monaco for a fee of £51.75 million back in 2017, the French international has gone on to make 49 appearances for City, providing 10 assists.
So far this season, the defender has made 16 appearances in the Premier League, registering two assists and an average WhoScored match rating of 6.78.
However, Mendy’s rather limited game time has been largely down to injury and fitness concerns this season, something which has been a problem for the 25-year-old since joining City.
And, speaking recently on the Football Writers Podcast, Seb Stafford-Bloor discussed Mendy’s struggles at Manchester City.
He said: “I feel a bit sorry for him [Mendy] because he’s had two serious injuries since he arrived in England. He had surgery in – I think – September of 2018, and he did his cruciate ligament when he was at Marseille before he went to Monaco, and he looks like a battle-scarred player.
“He looks like someone that’s lost confidence in his body and it’s a great shame because I remember seeing him when he first arrived, he had a period of about five or six games before he first got injured, where you saw that dynamic between him and [Kyle] Walker and you thought, ‘goodness me, this is powerful’.
“Because he’s a really good technical player, he’s a superb athlete – you’d say the same about Walker – and you thought, ‘this is what Liverpool have been able to achieve on their flanks’.
“Ever since then, it’s been this sort of shuffled cast of players [that have played at left-back], Fabian Delph played there, [Oleksandr] Zinchenko [has played there] – not a bad player, but really just ‘another guy’ isn’t he? He’s just a left-footed footballer, he’s not really a full-back.”
TIF Thoughts…
While it is clear that Mendy is indeed capable of performing admirably for City, as his 10 assists in 49 appearances would prove – with the defender being injured for a great deal of time so far throughout his career with the club, it could be argued that Pep Guardiola might begin to look for a player who is more would be more available to play frequently.
Has Benjamin Mendy suffered unfair criticism during his time at City?
Yes
No
