Benjamin Mendy signs 2-year deal with Lorient after being cleared of rape

Wed, Jul 19, 2023
Soccer News (AP)

LORIENT, France (AP) - World Cup winner Benjamin Mendy signed a two-year deal with French soccer club Lorient on Wednesday, only days after the France international was found not guilty of raping a woman and the attempted rape of another.

The 29-year-old Mendy left Manchester City last month after his contract expired. He had not played for the Champions League winners since 2021.

"After passing the traditional medical, Benjamin Mendy, a 2018 world champion, four-time Premier League winner with Manchester City and Ligue 1 French champion with Monaco among others, has strengthened Lorient's squad for the new season," Lorient said in a statement.

Other news FIFA can't guarantee federations will pay promised $30,000 per player at Women's World Cup The payments will go to the national federations, which are in turn expected to pay the players. But there is no mechanism to directly pay the players the sum. Selma Bacha injured for France in 1-0 loss to Australia in Women's World Cup warm-up game France's preparations for the Women's World Cup have received another injury blow after defender Selma Bacha left the field in tears on a stretcher in the final minutes of the team's warm-up game against Australia. Wendie Renard is determined to lead France to a first major trophy at the Women's World Cup Wendie Renard grew up in a place so remote that locals nicknamed it "The End of the World." By the end of the Women's World Cup, the France captain hopes she'll be raising aloft the major international trophy that has eluded the women's national team.

The France left back was cleared at a retrial of attempting to rape a woman - who was 29 at the time - at his home in October 2018. He was also found not guilty of the rape of a second woman two years later also at his home address.

Mendy denied the charges and said the incidents were consensual encounters.

Earlier this year, Mendy was cleared by a jury of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault relating to four young women or teenagers following a six-month trial. Jurors failed to reach verdicts on counts of rape and attempted rape, leading to the retrial.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports