{"id":17726,"date":"2025-08-30T15:47:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T15:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=17726"},"modified":"2025-08-30T15:48:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T15:48:00","slug":"soccer-player-thomas-partey-bailed-on-rape-charges-signs-for-spanish-club-villarreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/30\/soccer-player-thomas-partey-bailed-on-rape-charges-signs-for-spanish-club-villarreal\/","title":{"rendered":"Soccer player Thomas Partey, bailed on rape charges, signs for Spanish club Villarreal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spanish soccer<\/a> club Villarreal announced the signing of Thomas Partey<\/a> on Thursday, weeks after the midfielder was charged in England with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partey was charged with two counts of rape of one woman, three counts of rape regarding a second woman, and one count of sexual assault of a third, the Metropolitan Police said last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alleged assaults are reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, according to police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 32-year-old\u2019s lawyer, Jenny Wiltshire, noted\u00a0that Partey \u201cdenies all the charges against him\u201d and \u201cwelcomes the opportunity to finally clear his name.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partey\u2019s contract with Premier League club Arsenal came to an end at the conclusion of last season and before the charges were announced, making him a free agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was granted bail on Tuesday after appearing at Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court, the Associated Press earlier reported and is due to appear in court in London on September 2, where he will be able to submit a plea for the first time, according to reports in British media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villarreal\u00a0said in a statement\u00a0that Partey would join the team at the club training ground on Friday ahead of the new La Liga season, which begins next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe club is also aware that the player is currently involved in legal proceeding in England,\u201d the statement added. \u201cThe player firmly maintains his innocence and denies all charges against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe club respects the fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence and will await the outcome of the judicial process, which will be responsible for clarifying the facts of the case. Due to the law in England in relation to ongoing proceedings the club is unable to comment further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVillarreal CF wishes to clearly reiterate its strong commitment to respect and diversity and firmly condemns any act of violence in all its forms, including gender-based violence, discrimination, racism, xenophobia, or any behaviour that undermines the dignity of individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Partey<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Partey dribbles the ball during Arsenal’s Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain in May. David Ramos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partey joined Arsenal in October 2020 and made 130 Premier League appearances for the club, winning the FA Community Shield in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He played for Atl\u00e9tico Madrid prior to that, winning the La Liga title, the UEFA Super Cup and the Europa League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villarreal\u2019s acquisition of Partey has sparked controversy among the club\u2019s fanbase on social media, with hundreds of replies underneath the club\u2019s official announcement of the signing on X denouncing the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, other fans have embraced the signing. Borja Jim\u00e9nez, president of the \u201cL\u2019Os Groc\u201d fan group in Madrid, told CNN Sports in a statement that the midfielder is \u201ca signing of renown and experience\u201d who could prove influential on the pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After finishing fifth in La Liga last season, Villarreal qualified for a spot in the Champions League, the most prestigious competition in European soccer. That, Jim\u00e9nez Ortega said, would have been a \u201cdeciding factor\u201d in Partey joining the club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spanish soccer club Villarreal announced the signing of Thomas Partey on Thursday, weeks after the midfielder was charged in England with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. Partey was charged with two counts of rape of one woman, three counts of rape regarding a second woman, and one count of sexual assault of a third, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5,8,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-jobs","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Partey.jpg?fit=659%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17731,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17726\/revisions\/17731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}