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Hello. A Premier League star is facing serious criminal allegations. We’re explaining why he’s still playing and why he’s not been named.
Plus: Mbappe’s dispute with PSG intensifies, as does Emi Martinez’s temper.
800 days since arrest: The unnamed footballer
Player X. You might not know who he is. Legally, we can’t tell you who he is. As is routinely the case, he’ll be available for selection in the Premier League this weekend. Thousands watching him are none the wiser.
More than two years ago — 803 days, to be precise — player X was arrested and taken into police custody. The date was July 4, 2022, and he was detained on suspicion of rape. Three women have accused him of sexual offences against them.
The investigation into his alleged crimes has been running so long that he was bailed five times before his bail was lifted in August of last year. He remains under investigation but, to date, has never been charged. Likewise, he has never been named either.
Plenty of people know who we’re talking about, though, and he’s been targeted via the chants of opposition fans. Despite that, privacy laws in the UK mean it would be a criminal offence for The Athletic to publish anything that identifies (or could identify) him.
What we have, then, is a footballer accused of horrific offences who retains the right to anonymity and is free to continue his Premier League career. His club haven’t suspended him. Football’s authorities haven’t intervened. It’s almost as if the claims against him don’t exist.
Rule of law
The Metropolitan Police, the UK force investigating, is not attempting to hide the alleged crimes. In August 2023, a statement from the constabulary outlined the bare facts:
- The player was arrested on suspicion of one incident of rape against a woman in June 2022.
- After his arrest, and while in custody, he was accused of two more incidents of rape against a different woman, occurring in April and June 2021.
- In February 2023, he was interviewed under caution about a sexual offence against a third woman, which allegedly took place in February 2022.
No meaningful update has been provided since and the police have said no further action will be taken over the 2021 allegation. The investigation into the other two complaints remains live.
Why is this so secretive?
If the anonymity of the player is confusing, there’s a reason for it. We’ve compiled a long explainer here. In the UK, arrested suspects are generally entitled to anonymity until they are formally charged. The law here is different in that respect to the law in the United States, for example.
Anybody identifying them on social media or online risks prosecution — hence why the comments section on The Athletic’s coverage of criminal matters is often closed.
If this footballer does face charges, he’ll be named. That will only happen if and when the police believe they have enough evidence to ask the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to send him to trial.
Until then, his name will remain private. It doesn’t matter if that seems unsatisfactory. It’s simply the law. And in the meantime, you could be cheering this man without any knowledge of what lies behind his public image.
News round-up
Keeping PSR at bay: Newcastle’s £20m player who is not close to making Howe’s team
(Harriet Massey/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
I was invited onto The Athletic FC podcast yesterday to talk about the delicate relationship between Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe and their new sporting director, Paul Mitchell.
You can deduce that the accord there isn’t perfect on the basis that Howe had next to no warning of Mitchell’s appointment when the latter came on board in July. Weird.
I made the point that equally weird is Newcastle’s approach to recruiting goalkeepers. They seem to be stockpiling players Howe has zero desire to use. One of them cost £20m.
Odysseas Vlachodimos is a 30-year-old Greece international who joined from Nottingham Forest in June. The reason he signed was because profit and sustainability (PSR) stress had forced Newcastle to sell Elliot Anderson to Forest. Forest would only take Anderson if Howe took Vlachodimos — so both deals were duly done.
Here’s where we stand now: Vlachodimos isn’t getting a game. He’s not even getting onto the bench. Newcastle told him he could leave before the end of the window and while that didn’t happen, his career at St James’ Park was over from day one. That’s business. That’s PSR.
Argentina feel the burn: Crafty Colombia creating edgy rivalry with world champions
(Top photo: Gustavo Pagano, Andres Rot, Raul Arboleda/Getty, Felipe Cardenas/The Athletic; Design: Dan Goldfarb)
Argentina — World Cup holders, Copa America champions — are not in the habit of losing. It was their misfortune on Tuesday to meet another nation who are hard to beat: Nestor Lorenzo’s Colombia.
Colombia came off second best when the teams met in the Copa final in July, but that aside, they’re on a roll. Before that, they held a 28-game unbeaten streak and on Tuesday, in a World Cup qualifier, they beat Argentina 2-1.
They were crafty, too. They went for a mid-afternoon kick-off time, which meant the heat was intense (their equivalent of Bolivia playing at a stupidly high altitude). The press ribbed Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni after he moaned about the likely conditions. The crowd booed the Argentine national anthem and the cumulative trolling hit the spot.
James Rodriguez won the game, as he tends to, and at full time, Argentina’s combustible goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez lost his temper by slapping away a TV camera as it came towards him on the pitch.
TyC Sports
Martinez is the sport’s premier wind-up merchant, but as one poster on X put it: it’s all good fun while you’re winning.
Quiz Question
I’ll be disappointed in you if you don’t nail this one:
Which four players have appeared for both Arsenal and Spurs in the Premier League? We’ll reveal the answer here — and in Monday’s TAFC.
Around The Athletic FC
(Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
- Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala (above) — a wicked talent — is under the spotlight. Ex-Germany star Dietmar Hamann has accused him of playing for himself. Bayern are not pleased. As an aside, the club need to get on with extending the 21-year-old’s contract soon.
- Do you play it safe with the most expensive Fantasy Premier League stars? Or are you a ‘premium hopper’? The second strategy can deliver big rewards, but at this juncture, I see no sense in binning either Erling Haaland or Mohamed Salah. If you’ve got them, sit tight.
- For a little surprise, have a look at Germany’s Bundesliga table. Heidenheim are top. OK, they’re only two games in, but they’re yet to concede a goal. Later they go to Borussia Dortmund, who haven’t been brilliant. Let’s see how they cope with their first real test.
- By the close of play today, Premier League sides have to submit their 25-man squad lists for the first half of the season. If you’re on it, sweet. If you’re not, it’s a long old road to January. Eduardo Tansley has explained how the rules around this work.
- I love a spicy north London derby and the supremacy of it swings back and forth. Jack Pitt-Brooke has delved into the recent Tottenham Hotspur-Arsenal rivalry for us. Keep an eye on our site in the next few hours for updates from Mikel Arteta about Martin Odegaard’s injury.
- Most clicked in yesterday’s TAFC: the Football Association charging Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentancur over comments he made about Son Heung-min. He could face a ban of up to 12 matches.
Catch a match
(Selected games)
Today — German Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund vs Heidenheim, 2.30pm/7.30pm — ESPN+, Sky Sports.
Tomorrow — Premier League: Southampton vs Man Utd, 7.30am/12.30pm – USA Network, Fubo/TNT Sports; Aston Villa vs Everton, 12.30pm/5.30pm — NBC, Fubo/Sky Sports; Bournemouth vs Chelsea, 3pm/8pm — Peacock Premium/Sky Sports. La Liga: Real Sociedad vs Real Madrid, 3pm/8pm — ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports 1. MLS: Inter Miami vs Philadelphia Union, 7.30pm/12.30am — MLS Season Pass, Apple TV.
Sunday — Premier League: Tottenham vs Arsenal, 9am/2pm — USA Network, Fubo/Sky Sports; Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Newcastle United, 11.30am/4.30pm — USA Network, Fubo, Sky Sports. La Liga: Girona vs Barcelona, 10.15am/3.15pm — ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports 1.
Read the full article here