Unidentified Premier League player facing multiple allegations of rape

According to James Olley of ESPN, an English Premier League footballer referred to as "a well-known international" was initially arrested Monday regarding an alleged rape said to have occurred at some point in June. 

Olley offered an update on Wednesday and explained that the player is now facing at least two other accusations of rape. The player's identity wasn't revealed because of legal reasons. 

"On 4 July, an allegation of rape of a woman in her 20s was reported to police," a Scotland Yard statement said. "It was reported that the alleged rape happened in June 2022. On 4 July, a 29-year-old man was arrested at an address in Barnet on suspicion of rape and taken into custody.

"While in custody, he was further arrested on suspicion of two incidents of rape that were alleged to have been committed in April and June of 2021 against a different woman in her 20s. He has subsequently been released on bail to a date in August. Enquiries into the circumstances are ongoing."

The player's club, also left unnamed, declined to comment. His status for preseason activities wasn't known as of Wednesday afternoon local time. The 2022-23 Premier League campaign gets underway on Aug. 5.

Also on Wednesday, The Athletic's Luke Brown noted: 

"In the United Kingdom, arrested suspects have the right to privacy until the police see fit to charge them. That is because being charged is the point in the legal process when the courts have decided there is enough substance to the allegations to warrant linking someone to them.

"Before that, the courts consider there is no 'public interest' in knowing what someone is being investigated for or has been arrested over."