Twenty-five names went to UEFA. His was not one of them.
Real Madrid filed their Champions League squad list on Friday evening, just inside the midnight deadline. Every summer arrival made it: Marc Cucurella, Ibrahima Konate, Denzel Dumfries, Bernardo Silva, Yan Diomande, Carlos Espi.
Ferland Mendy did not. The France left-back is still working back from the injury he picked up in May, a torn right femoral tendon compounded by a bone dislocation. Jose Mourinho signed off on a list without him, and nobody in Madrid pretended to be surprised. His return is still weeks off.
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Seven years at the Bernabeu, most of them interrupted
Madrid paid Lyon close to 48 million euros for him in the summer of 2019. He repaid it in a way that rarely makes highlight reels: two Champions League titles, in 2022 and 2024, and a defensive record that only looked impressive once he stopped playing.
Ability was never the problem. Availability was. Muscle injuries and surgery have followed him around since he landed in Spain, and he has never once cleared 30 league appearances in a single La Liga campaign. Friday’s omission is not a new chapter. It is the same one, again.
Cucurella inherits a flank with nobody behind him
Which changes what Cucurella’s signing actually means. He arrived expecting a fight for the shirt. He now has the league phase to himself, with no natural cover if anything goes wrong, and Mourinho carrying a squad that is one hamstring away from improvising at left-back.
UEFA lists can be redrawn before the knockout rounds, so the door has not closed. Mendy is 31, still under contract, and facing a second half of the season that will decide considerably more than whether his name goes back on a form.
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