Nampalys Mendy

Nampalys Mendy (born 23 June 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Leicester City and the Senegal national team.

Due to his small stature, simple distribution, and reliable style of play, Mendy has been compared to former French international, Claude Makelele. Monaco club scout Didier Christophe, for example, referred to Mendy as a "carbon copy" of Makelele.

Club Career

Early career

After leaving Sporting Toulon in June 2007, Mendy went on trial with the football section of RC Toulon. According to Monaco scout Didier Christophe, the Toulon coaches stated that Mendy was there to "make up the numbers". However, while observing Mendy in training, Christophe noticed the player's intelligence and understanding of the game and recommended him to Dominique Bijotat, who was serving as head of the Monaco youth academy.

Monaco

On 27 April 2010, Mendy signed his first professional contract, agreeing to a three-year deal with Monaco until June 2013. In July 2010, he was called up to the first team by manager Guy Lacombe for pre-season training, again to make up the numbers with Lacombe missing several players such as Diego Perez, Nicolas Nkoulou, Park Chu-young, and Lukman Haruna, who had all participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

On 7 August 2010, Mendy made his professional debut in the club's opening league match against Lyon. He played the entire 90 minutes, receiving a yellow card in the second half. Mendy picked up his first ever red card on 19 August 2011 against Amiens SC, sent off at the 70th minute mark in a 1–1 draw.

During the 2012–13 season, Mendy played a key role in Monaco's promotion back to Ligue 1. Despite the successful season, Mendy decided to leave Monaco at the end of the season after his contract expired.

Nice

Mendy was linked to teams such as Manchester United and Arsenal. Despite calling Manchester United his "dream club", M

This page also has a version in other languages :  Нампали Менди (russian)