Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.

Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.

Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.

Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.

He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.

-Reuters

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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.

The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.

“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.

“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”

Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.

“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.

“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.

“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”

The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.

However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.

-Reuters

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A car ploughed into a crowd of Liverpool fans during a parade celebrating their side’s Premier League soccer title on Monday, hospitalising 27 people, with two seriously injured, but police said they did not believe the incident was terrorism-related.

Police said they had arrested a “53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area,” whom they believed to be the driver of the vehicle which struck a large group of supporters who were celebrating in the city in northwest England.

Twenty people were treated at the scene. Ambulance officials said of the 27 taken to hospital, four were children. One child and one adult were in a serious condition. Four people trapped under the vehicle had to be released by firefighters.

Videos on social media showed people thrown into the air as the car rammed into spectators.

When the car stopped, angry fans converged on it and began smashing the windows as police officers intervened to prevent them from reaching the driver.

“We believe this to be an isolated incident, and we are not currently looking for anyone else in relation to it. The incident is not being treated as terrorism,” temporary Deputy Chief Constable Jenny Sims told reporters.

With most people off work for the Spring Bank Holiday, hundreds of thousands of fans gathered to watch the Liverpool team and its staff travel through the city centre on an open-top bus with the Premier League trophy.

An eyewitness said the collision happened about 10 minutes after the bus carrying the Liverpool team had passed by, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The incident “cast a very dark shadow over what had been a joyous day,” Liverpool city council leader Liam Robinson said on social media.

In the aftermath, a Reuters photographer saw emergency services carrying victims on stretchers to ambulances and debris scattered on the road.

Police were unusually quick to give a description of the man they arrested.

Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent in London’s Metropolitan Police, told the BBC this was an effort to cool social media speculation that the episode was an Islamist attack

The same police force oversaw the response to the murder of three young girls in the nearby town of Southport last year, an incident which sparked days of rioting, fuelled by speculation online over the identity of the attacker.

An eyewitness to Monday’s incident who gave her name as Chelsea told BBC Radio that people packed onto the street were only alerted to the danger by screams from the crowd. That enabled some to jump out of the way as the driver showed no sign of slowing.

“With the commotion, that was the only reason we looked up, and thankfully, looked up and managed to jump out (of) the way in time,” the woman said.

Liverpool last won the trophy during the COVID pandemic when celebrations were not permitted due to lockdowns.

A Reuters witness said that before the incident, there was disorder in the city centre where the parade was due to pass, with overcrowding and spectators confused by a lack of signage about street closures or where they should go.

“My thoughts are with all those injured or affected,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X, calling the scenes “appalling” and saying he was being updated about the events.

The team said on X it was in direct contact with police. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been affected by this serious incident,” Liverpool FC said.

-Reuters

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