We’ve got some bad news for any Brighton fans who might have got excited at the prospect of signing Nantes’ young defender Batista Mendy: it might not happen.
Despite pretty much every outlet in France reporting the 18-year-old was on his way to AMEX Stadium, having visited the club’s infrastructures with his mother, there has been a lot of backtracking recently, dating back to March 21st, when it was reported the Ligue 1 side were still fighting to keep their starlet.
Well, it appears that Nantes, after a lot of discussing, have managed to convince Batista that staying in France is what’s best for him, according to Ouest-France.
The local newspaper reported over the weekend that despite the positive reports in the press, some within the Mendy clan weren’t all that convinced a move to Brighton was right, which then, over time, trickled down to the player.
That’s when Nantes pounced, and the club president, Waldemar Kita, reopened talks about a new contract.
Ouest-France reveal Mendy has now announced his desire to stay at Nantes for the foreseeable future, doing so late last week after some long talks.
As for Brighton in all of this, with whom they have an agreement, they would be ready to forget about everything, as long as he stays at Nantes and doesn’t sign anywhere else.
