Édouard Mendy

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Édouard Mendy
Édouard Mendy 2020.jpg
Mendy with Chelsea in 2020
Personal information
Full name Édouard Osoque Mendy[1]
Date of birth (1992-03-01) 1 March 1992 (age 29)[2]
Place of birth Montivilliers, France
Height 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Chelsea
Number 16
Youth career
1999–2005 Le Havre Caucriauville
2005–2006 Le Havre
2006–2011 CS Municipaux Le Havre
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2014 Cherbourg 26 (0)
2015–2016 Marseille B 8 (0)
2016–2019 Reims 80 (0)
2017 Reims B 1 (0)
2019–2020 Rennes 25 (0)
2020– Chelsea 35 (0)
National team‡
2018– Senegal 13 (0)
Honours
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:40, 11 September 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:10, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

Édouard Osoque Mendy (born 1 March 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Chelsea. Born and raised in France, he represents Senegal at international level. He is considered one of the best goalkeepers in Europe[4]

Starting his career in his native France, Mendy played in the Le Havre academy before signing professional terms with third division Cherbourg in 2011. Mendy was released in 2014, after which he almost quit the game before getting an opportunity with Marseille's reserves. He established himself over the next few seasons at Reims and Rennes before signing for Premier League club Chelsea in 2020. He immediately established himself as the club's new first-choice goalkeeper and kept 16 clean sheets in his first Premier League season. In the same season, Mendy equalled the record held by Santiago Cañizares and Keylor Navas for most clean sheets in a Champions League season with nine, and played an integral part in the road to the final which saw Chelsea beat Manchester City 1–0.

Regarded as one of the best goalkeepers across Europe, Mendy has won the UEFA Goalkeeper of the Season in 2021.

Eligible to play for Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and France, Mendy initially joined up with Guinea-Bissau in honour of his father, but subsequently switched allegiance to Senegal, where he became the first choice keeper for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Early life[]

Mendy was born in Montivilliers (Seine-Maritime, Normandy) in France.[5] He is a cousin of left-back Ferland Mendy, who plays for Real Madrid and the France national team.[6]

Club career[]

Early career[]

Mendy joined the youth academy of Le Havre AC at the age of 13.[7] After being stuck behind Zacharie Boucher in the talent pool, Mendy dropped down levels to play with CS Municipaux Le Havre.[7] He started his professional career at AS Cherbourg, who were then in the Championnat National, the third tier of the French football league system. He stayed in Cherbourg until the summer of 2014, after which he was without a club for a year.[8] "I did genuinely have my doubts about whether I would carry on," Mendy said in a later interview.[9] At the age of 22, Mendy registered for unemployment and began to look for jobs outside of football.[9] However, in 2015, Mendy was recommended to fill a goalkeeping vacancy at Marseille by friend and former teammate Ted Lavie. After one phone call with the academy goalkeeping coach, Dominique Bernatowicz, Marseille signed Mendy as their fourth choice goalkeeper.[10] He played the 2015–16 season in Marseille's reserve team, primarily as a backup to Florian Escales.[7]

Reims[]

In search of regular playing time, Mendy joined Reims during the 2016–17 Ligue 2 season.[7] On the opening day of the season, Mendy made his debut when Reims' starting goalkeeper Johann Carrasso was sent off five minutes into the match against Amiens. Mendy went on to keep three clean sheets over his next seven games.[7] The next season, Mendy cemented his role as the starting goalkeeper on a team for the first time, as he helped Reims win the 2017–18 Ligue 2 title as they were promoted to Ligue 1 for the following season.[7] Mendy kept 18 clean sheets in his 34 appearances over the course of the season.[11] In the 2018–19 season, Mendy played in all 38 Ligue 1 games, as newly promoted Reims soared to an eighth-place finish. Mendy kept fourteen clean sheets, the third highest of any goalkeeper in the league.[12]

Rennes[]

Mendy joined Rennes in August 2019 for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be in the region of €4 million, replacing departing goalkeeper Tomáš Koubek.[13][14] Mendy made his debut on Matchday 3 against Strasbourg after recovering from a broken finger. He saved a penalty to preserve a clean sheet as Rennes won 2–0 at the Stade de la Meinau.[7] Mendy went on to keep nine clean sheets in 24 league matches for Rennes in a season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, helping them to a third-place finish and qualification for the UEFA Champions League.[12]

Chelsea[]

English club Chelsea signed Mendy on a five-year contract in September 2020, for a fee reported to be £22 million.[15][16] On 29 September, Mendy made his debut for the club against Tottenham Hotspur in the fourth round of the EFL Cup, which Chelsea lost 5–4 on penalties after a 1–1 draw.[17] Mendy made his Premier League debut on 3 October, keeping a clean sheet in Chelsea's 4–0 victory over Crystal Palace, becoming the first African goalkeeper to play in the division since Carl Ikeme in 2012.[18][19] His clean sheet against Burnley on 31 October made him the first Chelsea goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in their first three Premier League matches since Petr Čech in 2004.[20] With a clean sheet in the club's next match, a 3–0 win against Mendy's former club Rennes in the Champions League, Chelsea recorded five consecutive clean sheets for the first time in a decade.[21]

On 8 May 2021, Mendy saved a panenka style penalty-kick from Sergio Agüero as Chelsea came from 0–1 down to defeat Manchester City 2–1.[22] Three weeks later on 29 May, Mendy became the first African goalkeeper to play in a final of the UEFA Champions League and the first since Bruce Grobbelaar, who appeared in the 1985 European Cup Final. Chelsea defeated Manchester City 1–0 in the final.[23] He also equaled the record of most clean sheets in a Champions League season, by keeping nine clean sheets, the same as Santiago Cañizares in 2000–01 and Keylor Navas in 2015–16.[24]

International career[]

Mendy was born to a Senegalese mother and a Bissau-Guinean father. In November 2016, he was called up by Guinea-Bissau to play friendly matches against Portuguese clubs Belenenses and Estoril.[25] At the time, his father was very ill and was about to pass away, leading Mendy to honour him playing for the Bissau-Guinean national team.[26] Shortly after, he was shortlisted by Guinea-Bissau to play the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for them,[27] but he ultimately rejected the call and pledged his future to Senegal.[26]

Mendy made his debut for Senegal in a 1–0 win over Equatorial Guinea on 18 November 2018.[28] Mendy went on to become Senegal's first choice goalkeeper leading up to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. He started in both Senegal's opening two group stage matches, a 2–0 win over Tanzania and a 1–0 defeat to Algeria. However, he was injured during the warmups before Senegal's final group stage match against Kenya, and was forced to withdraw from the squad with a broken finger as Senegal would go on to lose in the final 1–0 to Algeria.[29]

Style of play[]

Mendy has been described as a physically dominant goalkeeper who exerts a strong influence in the defensive third.[12] In the 2019–20 season with Rennes, Mendy recorded a 75.3% save success rate, the highest in Ligue 1, averaging 2.5 saves per game. In the same season, Mendy completed 51.4% of his passes over 40 yards, the same as Ederson, who is highly regarded for his kicking ability.[30] Mendy is an aerially assertive goalkeeper, frequently coming off his line to claim crosses. He is also very vocal, often organizing his defenders' positioning.[12][31] Upon his arrival at Chelsea, former manager Frank Lampard noted his positive attitude saying, "It seems his personality is pretty laid-back with a tough edge when it comes to work. He is very low maintenance ... and he is eager to engage with his team-mates and myself. He has a smile on his face so it's a real positive when you have a player that comes in and hits the ground running on the pitch and in the dressing room."[32]

Career statistics[]

Club[]

As of match played 14 September 2021[33]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[a] League Cup[b] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Cherbourg 2011–12 Championnat National 5 0 0 0 0 0 — — 5 0
2012–13 Championnat National 3 0 0 0 0 0 — — 3 0
2013–14 CFA 18 0 0 0 0 0 — — 18 0
Total 26 0 0 0 0 0 — — 26 0
Marseille B 2015–16 CFA 8 0 0 0 0 0 — — 8 0
Reims B 2016–17 CFA 1 0 0 0 0 0 — — 1 0
Reims 2016–17 Ligue 2 8 0 2 0 1 0 — — 11 0
2017–18 Ligue 2 34 0 0 0 0 0 — — 34 0
2018–19 Ligue 1 38 0 2 0 1 0 — — 41 0
Total 80 0 4 0 2 0 — — 86 0
Rennes 2019–20 Ligue 1 24 0 5 0 0 0 4[c] 0 0 0 33 0
2020–21 Ligue 1 1 0 0 0 — 0 0 — 1 0
Total 25 0 5 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 34 0
Chelsea 2020–21 Premier League 31 0 0 0 1 0 12[d] 0 — 44 0
2021–22 Premier League 4 0 0 0 0 0 1[d] 0 1[e] 0 6 0
Total 35 0 0 0 1 0 13 0 1 0 50 0
Career total 175 0 9 0 3 0 17 0 1 0 205 0
  1. ^ Includes Coupe de France
  2. ^ Includes Coupe de la Ligue, EFL Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  5. ^ Appearance in UEFA Super Cup

International[]

As of match played 7 September 2021[34]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Senegal 2018 1 0
2019 7 0
2020 2 0
2021 3 0
Total 13 0

Honours[]

Reims

Chelsea

Senegal

Individual

References[]

  1. ^ "2020/21 Premier League squads confirmed". Premier League. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Édouard Mendy: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Edouard Mendy". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  4. ^ UEFA.com (26 August 2021). "Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season: Edouard Mendy". UEFA.com. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Edouard Mendy: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Édouard Mendy: 5 things on the Rennes and Senegal goalkeeper". Ligue 1. 31 August 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Édouard Mendy: 5 things on the Rennes and Senegal goalkeeper". Ligue de Football Professionnel. 31 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Mendy 'had doubts' during unemployment". BBC Sport. 22 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Six Years After Being Without a Club, Edouard Mendy Is Chelsea's GK Savior". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  10. ^ "From being unemployed to joining Chelsea - Mendy's downs and ups". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Ensemble, fêtons nos champions ! – Stade de Reims". Stade de Reims. 7 May 2018. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Scouting Report: Édouard Mendy". Breaking The Lines. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  13. ^ "Édouard Mendy nouveau gardien du Stade Rennais F.C." (in French). Stade Rennais F.C. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  14. ^ "Chelsea can thank Cech for Mendy arrival and Rennes may pay the price". ESPN. 3 November 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  15. ^ "Chelsea transfer news: Edouard Mendy makes Chelsea move". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Chelsea sign goalkeeper from Rennes for £22m on five-year deal". Sky Sports. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Chelsea boss Lampard pleased with Mendy debut despite Carabao Cup exit". Goal.com. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  18. ^ "Chelsea 4–0 Crystal Palace". BBC Sport. 3 October 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Mendy: The 4th African Goalkeeper To Join Premier League". The SportsNation. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  20. ^ "Edouard Mendy is the first Chelsea goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in their first three Premier League games since Petr Čech in 2004. They've found a gem.