If there’s one person who’s really benefitted from Claude Puel being at Leicester City, it’s Nampalys Mendy.
The defensive midfielder, whom the manager knew well from their time together at Nice, returned from his loan spell at, well, Nice, and went straight back into the Foxes’ first-team, starting 15 out of a possible 17 Premier League games since.
After all, Leicester had 14 million reasons to try and get this to work, and it seems Puel finally has managed it, at least to a certain extent, helped by the fact the footballer never game up on his desire to play for the club.
He explained to Nice-Matin: “I was always aware of my qualities. I knew what I could bring to this team. What has changed, first of all, is that I’m at 100%. I really struggled with my ankle. I was often distraught at Nice, but the staff there did an amazing job. It’s also because of them that I’m here.”
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Falling out with Lucien Favre, who is now working wonders at Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, Mendy has a very different relationship with Puel, one he appreciates a lot.
He continued: “He appreciates me, trusts me. I owe it to him to give back on the pitch. We don’t talk a lot but we know we can count on each other. We understand each other. Basically, it’s like at Nice, when he gave me the armband really young. I never forgot that.”
As for whether Puel still trains with the team during the week: “Yes, yes, he never gives up and comes in with some big tackles (laughs)”.
Despite being at the club for two years, Mendy has only made 26 appearances in all competitions for Leicester, with 16 coming this campaign.
We’ll have to see what the future holds for him, but it seems that as long as Puel is manager at King Power Stadium, there’ll be a spot for him somewhere in the squad.
