Benjamin Mendy signs for Lorient on two-year deal

The 29-year-old was initially suspended by the Citizens in the summer of 2021 after his arrest on suspicion of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.

In January, Mendy was found not guilty of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against five women, but the jury failed to reach verdicts on one count of rape and one count of attempted rape.

A retrial began at Chester Crown Court towards the end of June, and on Friday, a new jury cleared Mendy of raping a 24-year-old woman and attempting to rape a 29-year-old woman, allowing him to resume his football career.

Mendy was officially released by Manchester City at the end of June when his contract expired, and the former France international has now returned to his homeland with Lorient.

The defender has arrived at the Stade du Moustoir on a free transfer and has committed the next two years of his career to Les Merlus until the end of the 2024-25 season.

Mendy will take the number five shirt at Lorient, who were promoted back to Ligue 1 in 2020 and finished 10th in the table during the 2022-23 campaign.

Mendy returns to his native France following a six-year stay in England, having joined Man City from Monaco in a £49.9m deal in the summer of 2017.

Prior to his arrest and suspension, Mendy made 75 appearances for Pep Guardiola's side across all tournaments, scoring two goals and registering 14 assists in the process.

However, injuries also bedevilled the left-back's stint at the Etihad, and he missed a total of 123 matches due to various physical problems, including a cruciate ligament rupture in his debut season.

Mendy's final appearance for Man City came in a 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day of the 2021-22 Premier League season, although he was an unused substitute in a 5-0 win over Norwich City six days later.

The former Le Havre youngster won four Premier League titles, four EFL Cups, one FA Cup and two Community Shields at Man City, prior to which he was crowned Ligue 1 champion with Monaco in 2016-17.

Mendy - who was also on the books at Marseille between 2013 and 2016 - has made 10 appearances for the France national team and was a part of their 2018 World Cup winning-squad, but he has not played for Les Bleus since November 2019.