Nampalys Mendy offers strong verdict on Leicester City experience under Brendan Rodgers | OneFootball

It seems as though Nampalys Mendy is not entirely happy with how the latter years of his career with Leicester City played out.

That's after the midfielder delivered an emotional account of his time at the Foxes, particularly under the management of Brendan Rodgers.

How did Mendy's career at Leicester City go?

Mendy joined Leicester in the summer of 2016, just after the club's famous Premier League title win, signing from French side Nice for a reported £13million.

With the exception of the 2017/18 campaign - which he spent back on loan with Nice - Mendy remained with Leicester until the end of last season, when he was released following the expiry of his contract, and the club's relegation to the Championship.

In total, Mendy made 118 appearances in all competitions for the club, although he did find game time somewhat harder to come by in the latter stages of his time with the club, in the wake of Brendan Rodgers' appointment as manager at The King Power Stadium, in February 2019.

Now it seems as though his treatment by Leicester at that point, is something that Mendy is now not entirely happy with.

What has Mendy said about his time with Leicester?

Given the struggle for game time he was enduring at Leicester under Rodgers, it seems Mendy had been keen to leave the club before he did so earlier this year.

However, that is something he says he was not allowed to do, leaving him in limbo until his contract expired this summer.

Following his departure from the King Power Stadium, Mendy has now returned to France to link up with Ligue 1 side Lens, which he feels has kick-started his career once more.

Speaking about his time with Leicester in an interview with French outlet L'Equipe, via Sport Witness, Mendy said: “Everything was going well until (Claude) Puel got fired (in February 2019). Another manager arrived in Brendan Rodgers, and he gradually pushed me aside. I never head back.

"He just kept tell me: ‘I have nothing to reproach you for’. And the worst thing is that when I wanted to leave, the club refused. In the end, I was just waiting for my contract to end. Honestly, I’ve come alive again since that moment.”

Where are Leicester in the Championship?

Despite the departure of Mendy and a number of other senior players in the summer following relegation, Leicester have made a strong start to the Championship season.

Under new manager Enzo Maresca, the Foxes currently sit top of the second-tier standings with 13 wins from 15 league games, meaning they are 11 points clear of the play-off places.

Leicester are next in action on Saturday afternoon, when they travel to the Riverside Stadium to take on Middlesbrough.

Are Mendy's frustrations with his time at Leicester fair?

You can understand why Mendy may be disappointed about how things went for him at Leicester.

Given he is now 31-years-old, the midfielder has just spent seven seasons with the Foxes, where he ought to have been at the peak of his career.

As a result, he will have wanted to enjoy as much football as possible during that time, but those opportunities were clearly not always forthcoming at The King Power Stadium, meaning he may well have missed out.

However, Leicester will have needed to make sure they did not leave themselves too short on options at any point, meaning from their perspective, they may have felt they could not simply let him go and reduce their strength in depth, just because of his desire to get more game time.