The selection of Nampalys Mendy last Saturday certainly raised some eyebrows.
Many Leicester City supporters were debating whether it would be Adrien Silva or Vicente Iborra who would partner Wilfred Ndidi, but the selection of Papy proved to be correct.
Mendy, 26, played a pivotal role against Wolverhampton Wanderers’ central midfield of Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho. Fans were quoted as saying that the young Frenchman was like a new signing!
It is now over two years since the Foxes broke their transfer record to bring Mendy to England. We look at why the decision was made.
AS Monaco
On 27th April 2010, Mendy signed his first professional contract for AS Monaco aged just 17, made his debut four months later in August.
The young Frenchman stayed at Monaco for three more seasons, and played a key part in the 2012/13 as his side were promoted to the Ligue 1 under the guidance of manager Claudio Ranieri.
OGC Nice
The French media were comparing Mendy to a young Claude Makelele and there were links with both Arsenal and Manchester United, but after meeting with the then OGC Nice manager Claude Puel, he decided to sign for the Les Aiglons.
He was almost an ever-present for three seasons at Nice, starting 110 matches. As shown below, Mendy’s key attribute is passing. In his final season (2015/16), he had the highest amount of passes and highest pass completion percentage of any player outside of champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Nice finished the season in fouth place, securing European football for the 2016/17 season. Mendy’s predominant position was in the centre of a midfield three.
Leicester City
When Claudio Ranieri was appointed Leicester City manager in the summer of 2015, the club were initially linked with a bid for Mendy. At the time, the Foxes decided to go for N’Golo Kante, but they returned in the summer of 2016. A £13 million bid was accepted by Nice and Papy became Leicester’s record signing.
There was initial talk was that he would be the replacement for N’Golo Kante who, on the back of a superb season, was being linked to some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
But the understanding is that Mendy was brought in to form a ‘plan B’ trio with Danny Drinkwater and Kante. This was seen as a key tactical option for the East Midlanders, particularly with UEFA Champions League awaiting them in 2016/17.
Unfortunately for Mendy, Kante did leave Leicester to join Chelsea, and with no direct replacement signed by the club – the pressure was on.
On 20th August 2016, he made his Premier League debut at the King Power Stadium against Arsenal. Disaster struck for Mendy just after half time, as he had to leave the field through injury despite an impressive first half showing. The Injury then kept him out of the team for the majority of the season.
Mendy fell out of favour with Ranieri’s replacement, Craig Shakespeare, and spent 2017/18 back at OGC Nice on loan.
2018/19
When Claude Puel was appointed Leicester City manager in October 2017, he stated that every single player would be given his chance.
Mendy returned to Leicester in June and was straight-away involved in the club’s training camp in Austria. He played his part in pre-season friendlies, but a minor knock meant that he was unavailable for the opening game against Manchester United.
The future
The big question now is: can Nampalys Mendy stay fit? History has proved that a fully fit Mendy can play 38 games a season, keep the ball moving accurately and be a creative threat.
He has tough competition at Leicester with Silva and Iborra jostling with him for a starting position, but now that he is back, he could be the surprise of the season.