Spain and Manchester United goalkeeper, David de Gea, has strongly denied involvement in an alleged sexual assault, insisting that the accusations are “false”.
De Gea, 25, is currently with the Spanish squad as they prepare to face the Czech Republic on Monday in their first game of the 2016 European Championship in France.
According to media reports, De Gea, alongside former Under-21 teammates, Real Madrid’s Isco and Iker Muniain of Athletic Bilbao, has been named by a protected witness in a rape case regarding an alleged incident that occurred in 2012.
The witness is said to have testified that she was abused by two footballers, and WhatsApp messages were reportedly exchanged between De Gea, Muniain and the woman involved.
De Gea is alleged to have asked the woman in the WhatsApp exchanges if she “would be with five Manchester United players”, but the footballer has now spoken out, claiming that the accusations are fabricated.
“This is all something false which has come out in the press,” De Gea said in a media conference on Friday.
“This now in the hands of my lawyers. This gives me more strength to train more, to help the team however I can.
“I’m still very relaxed, just want to train and do what I like to do. I just want the tournament to start and to play. I was in the room when heard news. Above all I wanted to tell my family, so they know this is all false, and they can be relaxed.”
The shot stopper, who is likely to start ahead of skipper, Iker Casillas in goal for the defending champions, rejected any notion that he would be dropping out of Spain’s Euro 2016 challenge.
“I am very relaxed and nothing else,” the ex-Atletico Madrid man assured.
“It is all false. Nothing much more I can say. I have not planned to leave the national team. I’ve left it in the hands of my lawyers. It’s all lies.”
The allegations were made during a case involving a porn producer, Ignacio Allende Fernández, known as Torbe, who has been charged with trafficking and abusing girls.
Torbe was jailed in April for separate offences including sex attacks, sexual exploitation and child pornography.
The protected witness, who was forced into the prostitution ring, said she was taken to a Madrid hotel and introduced to another girl and two footballers, court papers seen by El Diario newspaper state.
Once in a room with the other girl, the witness – known in police interview papers as TP3 – was told by Torbe that she had to comply with the sexual demands of the two Under-21 internationals.
When she said she did not wish to take part, Torbe “grabbed her forcefully by the arm”, the court papers said.
The witness said she had told Torbe in front of the footballers that she did not want to take part in the sexual encounter, El Diario said.
Meanwhile, the players said they did not want any recordings of the encounter to be made in case their playing careers were affected, the newspaper reported.
The witness said the encounter had been arranged by de Gea, the police report says.
