Leicester midfielder Nampalys Mendy has revealed he would only consider returning to France to join Bordeaux this summer.
Mendy is free to leave the Foxes this summer after making no impact in the Premier League following his £10m arrival from Nice 12 months ago.
The 25-year-old was billed as the ideal player to replace N’Golo Kante, who joined Chelsea two weeks later, but a series of long-term injuries ensured he failed to make any impression at the club.
Nantes have been linked with a move for the out-of-favour Leicester midfielder but Mendy has no interest in reuniting with Claudio Ranieri, who was Leicester manager when he joined last summer, and only has his eyes on signing for Bordeaux.
“I have heard of interest from Nantes, but neither myself nor my advisor has been contacted,” Mendy told L’Equipe. “Anyway, since my advisor talked to me about the possibility of joining Bordeaux, I’m fixing on it.
“If I come back to France, it will be in Bordeaux or nowhere else. I lost a year in England because of a failed ankle surgery, which unfortunately needed a second surgery in March.
“Even though I am not 100% yet, I have just returned from an excellent rehabilitation phase at the Saint-Raphael ESRC, which I would like to thank all the staff. And now I have the hope of joining the Girondins fairly quickly. It’s even an obsession.”
In Mendy’s final season at Nice before he joined Leicester only Jorginho (3265) and Thiago Motta (2756) completed more passes in Europe’s top five leagues than the former France U21 international (2717).
For more stats on Nampalys Mendy, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
