Manchester City are reportedly interested in a deal for Real Madrid defender Ferland Mendy and the Frenchman could solve a big problem in Pep Guardiola’s side.
According to reports from Spain, City and PSG are reportedly both keen on signing the former Lyon man, who is yet to agree a new contract with Los Blancos.
The report claims that while Mendy is waiting to sign a new and improved deal at the Santiago Bernabeu, it is not seen as a priority for the Spanish champions, who are keen to recruit Alphonso Davies from Bayern Munich.
It is suggested that he would cost a similar fee to the £47m that Madrid paid to bring him in from Lyon in 2019 after his “stunning” development – as per Didier Deschamps – and given City’s current shortcomings at left-back, Txiki Begiristain may well be tempted to bring the 27-year-old to the Etihad this month.
So far this season, Guardiola has alternated between Nathan Ake, Joao Cancelo and Sergio Gomez at left-back with that area of the pitch seemingly becoming somewhat of a problem for the Spanish tactician.
The Dutch centre-back has done an admirable job out wide but doesn’t offer the attacking quality of someone like Cancelo and Gomez, having scored just once and failed to register an assist in 2022/23.
However, it is a testament to the Portuguese full-back’s poor form that 18-year-old Rico Lewis has been trusted to start ahead of him in recent fixtures, while Gomez has struggled for game time since his sending off against Copenhagen in the Champions League group stages.
WhoScored suggests that Mendy excels at passing, dribbling and holding onto the ball, all of which indicates that he could be a big success in a Guardiola side.
He also has an impressive history with Real Madrid, winning La Liga twice and the Champions League last season, playing 90 minutes in Los Blancos’ 1-0 win over Liverpool, with the left-back helping to keep the dangerous Mohamed Salah off the scoresheet, something which City have struggled with immensely in recent seasons.
The Egyptian scored the only goal when Liverpool triumphed 1-0 at Anfield earlier in the season to put a dent in City’s title hopes, with Cancelo arguably at fault as he slipped to allow the winger in on goal.
Therefore, it seems clear that Guardiola could do with a more natural left-back option in his squad and given Mendy’s experience at the top level with Madrid and France, he could be the ideal candidate.
