Former Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy was lent money by team-mates when the club stopped paying him after he was charged with rape and sexual assault, an employment tribunal has heard.
Current and former players Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez supported the French international, who now claims to be owed £11.5million in unpaid wages by the Premier League champions.
The 30-year-old’s £500,000 per month wage was withheld by the club after he was charged in 2021, the tribunal was told.
The World Cup winner was subsequently cleared.
Mendy, who now plays for French Ligue 2 club Lorient, brought employment tribunal proceedings against Manchester City, claiming for “unauthorised deductions” from wages.
His contract showed he would also receive a £900,000 bonus for appearing in 60% of matches, a £1million bonus if City qualified for the Champions League, and an annual £1.2m payment to his image rights company.
Court documents shared with the Manchester employment tribunal said Mendy “very quickly ran out of money” and had to sell his Cheshire mansion to cover legal fees, bills and child support payments after his wages were withheld.
“I struggled to pay my child support, I felt awful,” the footballer said in a witness statement.
Mendy said his agent, Meissa N’diaye, paid towards his legal fees, while team-mates including England international Sterling offered “financial support”.
“Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez all lent me money to help me try and pay my legal fees and support my family,” he said in his witness statement.
The left-back described his 2021 charging as the day “my life was turned upside down forever.”
The tribunal heard he enjoyed partying, and was held in custody between August 2021 and January 2022, and again between December 2022 and January 2023 after he breached his bail conditions by hosting and attending multiple parties.
A January 2021 party at his multi-million pound home lasted until 4am, despite him having a match the following day, the tribunal was told.
Mendy, appearing via videolink, told the tribunal he and his agent N’diaye had been assured by City’s then chief football operating officer Omar Berrada that he would receive his unpaid wages once he had been cleared of the charges.
The footballer sent Berrada a WhatsApp message in November 2022, asking if he could confirm in writing that the wages would be paid, the tribunal heard.
But Berrada did not reply to the message and denied ever having made such an assurance.
After his acquittal, Mendy sent an email to Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the chief executive of City, but again received no response.
The club continued paying Mendy following his first arrest in November 2020, but argued they did not have to carry on doing so later because his bail conditions and Football Association suspension meant he was not able to perform his duties as a player.
Mendy’s witness statement continued: “I would have thought that Manchester City, of all clubs, would appreciate the lack of control and anger that a person or entity has with being charged with false allegations given the Premier League allegations that they are facing.
“At no point have Manchester City apologised to me or even acknowledged how their actions almost cost me everything.
“I believe that it is fair and just for me to be paid the wages that I would have earned but for being falsely arrested for crimes that I did not commit.”
Mendy was found not guilty of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in January 2023, but the same jury could not reach a verdict on another count of rape and one count of attempted rape.
It saw a retrial and Mendy was found not guilty of one charge of rape and one charge of attempted rape.
In April, a High Court tax debt case against Mendy was dismissed after he paid a £700,000 bill.
The employment tribunal is expected to last for two days.
