Sunderland are a League One club these days while Benjamin Mendy is playing Premier League and Champions League football with Manchester City.
£52 million Manchester City flyer Benjamin Mendy has admitted that he walked away from the chance to join Sunderland when he was a little-known youngster, speaking to FourFourTwo.
Back in the summer of 2017, a left-back with the engine of an express train swapped Monaco for Manchester. After playing a major role in the Monegasques remarkable Ligue 1 title-winning campaign, Mendy walked away from the Principality to link up with Pep Guardiola – becoming the world’s most expensive defender in the process (BBC).
But, just four years before he joined Man City for a staggering £52 million, Sunderland missed out on the chance to bring a ten-time France international to the Stadium of Light for as little as £3.5 million.
“It’s true that I met Sunderland and we had talks, but in my head I really wanted to do something good in France before I travelled abroad,” said Mendy, who eventually swapped Le Havre for Marseille in that same transfer window.
“I didn’t want to leave French football like that, through the small door. I wanted to do something big, and when that was done I could go to England. It’s why I preferred to go to Monaco for another challenge instead of English teams after that.”
It’s fair to say patience paid off for Mendy.
He wrote his name in Monaco history alongside Bernardo Silva, Kylian Mbappe, Fabinho and co during that thrilling 2016/17 campaign, establishing himself as one of Europe’s elite full-backs.
And while Mendy was knocking his future employers out of the Champions League and leaving Paris Saint-Germain red-faced, Sunderland were on their way to finishing bottom of the Premier League.
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