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Manchester City was the only club Benjamin Mendy would have left Monaco for.

The Blues landed the the left-back from the Ligue 1 side this summer for £50million after he told club bosses of his desire to leave.

The Frenchman, who has already become a popular figure with the City fans, was excited at the prospect of working with manager Pep Guardiola and Monaco vice president Vadim Vasilyev admitted that made it impossible to keep him.

Mendy told Vasilyev he would have stayed put if another other club than the Blues and their Catalan boss had coming calling.

“For a while, we held off,” Vasilyev told L’Equipe via Goal.com . “And then, we thought - in spite of the offers that we had had for him and him indicating that he wanted to leave - could he have another season like the last one?

“At first, I said, ‘no, you’re staying’. He replied: ‘But Vadim, I really want to go to City and link up with Guardiola.’

“On numerous occasions he said to me: ‘If it was Chelsea, I’d stay; but if it’s a chance to work with Guardiola, I want to go.’

“He’d spoken so frankly with me. So, when City met the asking price and when he became the most expensive defender in the world, there were no more arguments to have with him. We weighed up the for and against and said to him: “OK, you can go.”