However, injuries have hindered Mendy’s stay in Madrid. And his occasional troubles in possession pale in contrast to Marcelo’s brilliance.

How good is Mendy? Should Madrid keep him long-term? Using data from this season and film from his last four complete campaigns, let’s examine Mendy’s skills, flaws, fit at Madrid, and place in the pantheon of great modern left backs.

Ferland Mendy is a Lockdown defender. It’s no exaggeration to say Mendy is one of the best ever 1v1 defenders we’ve seen at his position. The Frenchman has amazing speed, agility, awareness, and reflexes that allow him to shut down opponents 1v1.

Statistically, Mendy’s superiority in tackling is such that teams don’t really go at him. Over the last 365 days, he’s only won 1.04 tackles per 90, which places him in the 3rd percentile of all fullbacks.

This is a regular phenomenon in top-level sports. The best defenders are often avoided totally because of the way they break down attacks. Mendy is a solid block against wingers. He’s slowly completed fewer tackles throughout the years, suggesting that players avoid him until they have a ready-made situational advantage (numerical or spatial) that invites them to dribble, but his success percentage versus dribblers remains more or less the same. Wingers have learned to avoid him.

Mendy’s tackles (against all players, not just dribblers) and challenge success percentage versus dribblers:

Mendy averages roughly 1 interception per game, near the 50th percentile of all left backs.

His excellent 1v1 skills make him a defensive cornerstone for Madrid and are the major reason that he is a vital rotation component even in the event of buying a new left back.