He was cleared of raping a woman and attempting to rape another at Chester Crown Court on Friday.

That followed a trial in January when Mendy was cleared of six counts of rape and one of sexual assault.

Mendy became the world's most expensive defender when City paid Monaco £52m to sign the France defender in 2017.

City's director of football Txiki Begiristain described him as "one of the world's best full-backs" when the highly rated defender signed.

He won the Premier League in his first season with City before being part of the France squad that claimed the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

However, he last played competitive football in August 2021, appearing for City at Tottenham Hotspur.

Mendy was arrested later that month and remanded in custody for five months before going to trial for the first time last August.

Jurors failed to reach verdicts on two counts of rape and attempted rape, prompting a re-trial from which he was acquitted last week.

The portrait painted of him during the case led to his own legal team, led by Eleanor Laws KC, to admit that "life, as he knew it, is over, in football in the UK".