Manchester City player Benjamin Mendy has been removed from FIFA 22 following serious allegations. However, some of his cards are still available on the transfer market – and are getting more expensive.
These are the allegations against the player: Defender Benjamin Mendy is accused of four counts of rape and another sexual assault. According to the latest information, a court trial is scheduled for January 24, 2022, with a further hearing set for November (via Sportschau).
Mendy has already been suspended by his club Manchester City last August. He has now also been removed from FIFA 22 by EA Sports. In a statement to Eurogamer, EA said: “Since Benjamin Mendy has been removed from the active squad of both Manchester City and the French national team, he has also been removed from the respective squad in FIFA 22 and banned from FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) packs and Ultimate Draft while he awaits his trial” (via Eurogamer).
Individual cards in FUT still available on the market
This is what happens to the player card in FIFA 22: In fact, Mendy is no longer found in the kickoff mode, now just days before the release of FIFA 22. However, he still appears in Ultimate Team at times. Because: Mendy’s removal from the packs only took place the day after the start of Early Access.
Accordingly, some players were still able to pull the defender from packs. Since already acquired cards have not been removed from the game, he can still be offered on the transfer market. And it is noticeable: The card has even become more expensive.
Looking at Mendy’s price development on the portal futbin, it can be seen that he initially cost around 600 to 800 coins on the FUT transfer market. Then the prices started to rise. Currently, Mendy is about 3,500 coins on futbin, and even more expensive versions can be found on the transfer market.
This means he is currently noticeably more expensive than other regular gold cards with comparable stats. These are generally in the range of 700 to 1,000 coins.
Has this ever happened before? There have been instances in the past where players have been removed from FIFA due to real-life incidents. For example, Marco van Basten was removed from the game after a scandal in FIFA 20, which led to a spike in his price.
In FIFA 18, the card of player Alejandro Penaranda was removed after he died during a robbery. Here too, sudden developments occurred on the transfer market.
Back then, EA reacted by lowering the player’s price range to the point where selling was no longer “worth it”. However, the card of Adalberto Panaranda, who had a similar last name and apparently was confused by some players, then increased in value.
