It has been revealed that footballer Benjamin Mendy is the father of a secret love child from a Mediterranean holiday romance.

The Premier League star is allegedly paying the mother, Yolanda Aguera, approximately £350 a month towards the upkeep of their daughter - although she requested a four-figure sum.

The 3-year-old child was conceived after he met former bank worker Yolanda, 41, at a trendy hotel in Barcelona and went with her to a party at a mutual friend's apartment in the city.

28-year-old Mendy did not dispute that he is the father of the child.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun on Sunday, Yolanda, who lives in a small one-bedroom apartment in the city suburb of Badalona, said:

“The last three years of single parenting have been hard.

"Initially I was getting up two hours every night to breastfeed and helping to look after my grandmother during the day before she went into a retirement home"

Since my daughter started at nursery school this year I've had a bit more freedom to look for work but I'm having to focus on jobs that will enable me to fit in with her timetables..

The money Ben is paying will help but I'm worried about how I'm going to make ends meet and ensure our daughter doesn't want for anything.

"I was getting just over £400 a month in state benefits up until they ran out a week or so ago."

"My mortgage is £550 a month so at the moment I'm relying on the little savings I have and help from my parents.

The 41-year-old mother added: "I would like Ben to be there for our daughter as she grows up."

He hasn't got any kind of meaningful relationship with her just now and has only seen her once when we flew to Manchester and visited him at his home in Cheshire.

She loves playing football and is left-footed like her dad and if I have the money I'd like her to start extra-curricular activities in sport and music which she also seems to have a passion for when she begins proper school next year.

Yolanda continued: "I had gone along for a drink with a female friend and we got talking to him and his pals. The attraction was instant and mutual."

"There was music on the terrace and after we danced he sat me on his lap and we kissed. My friend told me he was a footballer because I had no idea who he was when we first met.

‚"We all ended up in a nearby apartment they seemed to be renting where one of Benjamin's pals had offered to cook dinner.

Before we sat down for the meal Benjamin took me by the hand and guided me towards a bedroom where we had sex.

She realised she was pregnant five weeks later and became a mum after undergoing an emergency Caesarian in April 22, 2020. Yolanda reportedly told Mendy about her pregnancy but did not name him as the father on the birth certificate.

The footballer.s £90,000 a week contract at Manchester City is due to expire in June and raises questions as to whether he will be able to continue paying his mortgage on his £4.8 million home in Cheshire. Mendy has also been suspended without pay since September 2021 when he was charged with sex offences.

He went on trial last year at Chester Crown Court charged with seven counts of rape against four women, one attempted rape of a fifth alleged victim and a sexual assault of a sixth woman. He was found not guilty of six counts of rape and the sexual assault claim, but will face a retrial in June after the jury did not reach a verdict on one rape count and the attempted rape which he denies.

Mendy has agreed visiting rights to his daughter and Yolanda says she wouldn't turn the clocks back‚ even if she could:

"She's adorable and always happy and she's the spitting image of her dad."

"My mum was the first person who held her in her arms in the hospital and told me how similar they were the moment she saw her."

"I wouldn't change her for the world. I had sleepless nights when I was pregnant wondering if I was doing the right thing by having her but the moment I had her in my arms she changed my life. he's the most incredible person I have in my life and my reason for living. God has rewarded me with this daughter. Being a mother right now means everything to me"