Manchester City’s £44.5m bid for Benjamin Mendy rejected by Monaco

Manchester City have had a €50m (£44.5m) bid for Monaco’s left-back Benjamin Mendy rejected, with the French club demanding closer to the £50m-plus deal paid to Tottenham Hotspur for the right-back Kyle Walker.

It is understood City are confident of sealing the transfer of Mendy and will return with a higher offer. The 23-year-old was due to have a medical on Tuesday but haggling over his final fee could not be resolved in time.


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Monaco believe that, as Mendy is four years younger than Walker and a France international, he is worth at least as much as the 28-year-old Englishman, given the current inflated nature of the transfer market.

If Mendy is signed and he is joined by Real Madrid’s Danilo, another prospective buy for City, then Pep Guardiola would end his summer of targeting of full-backs.

The head coach would view Danilo, who has more often been a right-back, as a left-back too. And the Brazilian could also be deployed as a holding midfielder so Guardiola would not have to buy another player in that position.