Benjamin Mendy released by Manchester City ahead of rape retrial

Benjamin Mendy will be released by Manchester City days after his retrial for rape is scheduled to begin.

Mendy, 28, will leave the Premier League champions when his contract expires at the end of the month.

The footballer, who became City's most expensive player when he joined from Monaco for £52m in 2017, has not played for the club in almost two years.

He was first arrested in November 2020 and later suspended by the club in August 2021, after he was charged with the rape and sexual assault of several different women.

Mendy was accused of seven counts of rape against four women, one count of attempted rape against a fifth woman and a further charge of sexual assault against a sixth woman.

During a five-month trial at Chester crown court, Mendy told jurors that the women who accused him of rape had all consented to sex.

He also denied groping the woman who claimed he had sexually assaulted her in his kitchen during a party as his mansion in Cheshire.

In February of this year, the former France international was cleared unanimously of six counts of rape and one of sexual assault.

But he will face a second trial, which is scheduled to begin on June 26, after the jury was unable to reach verdicts on a charge of raping one woman and attempting to rape another.

Mendy's co-defendant, Louis Saha Matturie, was found not guilty of three charges of rape involving two women.

The jury was unable to reach verdicts on six other counts against the 41-year-old - four alleged rapes against three women and the alleged sexual assault of two women.

He will go on trial for those charges in the week commencing September 18.

Reacting to the result of the first trial, City released the following statement on Mendy: "Given there are open matters related to this case, the club is not in a position to comment further at this time."

City have now confirmed that Mendy will leave the club when his contract expires on June 30, days after his retrial is due to begin.

Terrell Agyemang, Rowan McDonald and Ilkay Gundogan have also been named on the club's released list, although contract negotiations are ongoing with Gundogan over a new deal at the Etihad.