Benjamin Mendy is a special character.
The French left-back is a major proponent of a certain kind of ethos which essentially leads him to do what he wants in life.
Thankfully, all he seems to want to do is play football extremely well, be a very nice man and be enormously funny on social media.
Such is his social media use that one would be forgiven for knowing him more for his Twitter profile than for his (numerous) skills on the pitch, a situation particularly exacerbated by his domestic season-ending injury last year, and the free time that afforded him.
Time and again, Mendy is charming and endearing on Twitter, not taking himself too seriously and always taking time to reply to supporters and the occasional article.
He is also fit again having recovered from his knee injury, which led to him playing a part in France’s World Cup winning summer in Russia, and has seen him return to Pep Guardiola’s side for the 2018/19 Premier League season.
His first appearance of the season came against Arsenal on Sunday, and he was relatively impressive as Pep’s side won 2-0, barring one occasion in the first half when he allowed Hector Bellerin to get past him.
After the game, Guardiola was asked about Mendy and his comments were, let’s say, mixed:
“Mendy is Mendy. Sometimes we want to kill him and sometimes you think wow what a player we have. He gives us energy. Mendy has a lot of things to improve and hopefully we can convince him to forget a little bit the social media and improve a few things,” he said.
PEP: @benmendy23 is Mendy. Sometimes we want to kill him and sometimes you think wow what a player we have. He gives us energy. Mendy has a lot of things to improve and hopefully we can convince him to forget a little bit the social media and improve a few things.
— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 12, 2018
Now, your average player would see this, take a moment and quietly decide to stay off social media for a while and get their head down. But Mendy isn’t your average player. Mendy, as Pep said, is Mendy.
And he said: “Oops.”
Oops 😅 https://t.co/dVBYJNbKPM
— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) August 12, 2018
What does this mean for Pep and Ben? Is the Shark Team over and done with for good? Or will Mendy continue to entertain the masses on and off the pitch for years to come? I think we all know the answer.
