Manchester City’s Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez could reportedly be approached by police as potential witnesses in the criminal investigation against teammate Benjamin Mendy.
Grealish, signed by Man City over the summer, trained and played with Mendy prior to his suspension by the club at the tail end of August. According to The Sun, the England international also went on a night out with the Frenchman, as well as fellow City star Riyad Mahrez, a few days prior.
As was reported by the BBC after Mendy took the stand on September 10th, the player is accused of four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. Grealish and Mahrez’s involvement in the investigation relates to the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl at Mendy’s home on the 23rd of August.
The pair are NOT considered suspects and the report by The Sun stresses that they is not at all implicated in the alleged wrongdoing. Police are merely thought to be considering speaking to the both of them as they were out with Mendy the night the alleged rape took place.
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It remains to be seen if either of the pair would have any sort of valuable information and could provide details of the events that led to the alleged incident at Mendy’s home. The Sun reports that neither player left the club with Mendy but did party with him on the night.
There does not appear to have been any contact between the police and Grealish or Mahrez at this point in time. It’s not entirely clear how likely it is that the authorities will reach out to the City pair.
Mendy’s trial has been set for the 24th of January 2022. If the force were to consider Grealish and Mahrez’s contributions to the case potentially significant, you imagine they will be reaching out in due course.
This is an unwanted distraction for the two players as they work on ensuring Man City retain their Premier League crown. Both will surely recognise, however, that ensuring justice is served has far more significance for each and every individual involved in the investigation.