David de Gea: Manchester United goalkeeper 'cleared' over sexual assault case

The Manchester United goalkeeper was accused of organising a meeting between two footballers and two women working as prostitutes

De Gea was implicated in the case shortly before Spain's Euros campaign (Getty)

David de Gea will not have to testify in a sexual assault case after an investigation into his involvement collapsed due to a lack of evidence.

The Manchester United goalkeeper was accused of organising a meeting between two footballers and two women working as prostitutes in a Madrid hotel in 2012.

Athletic Bilbao forward Iker Munian was named as one of the footballers. Muniain was alleged to have sexually abused and threatened a prostitute at the meeting.

It was never alleged that De Gea was present at the hotel.

The allegations, published by Spanish newspaper El Diario, were made by a prostitute acting as a witness in a case against pornography producer Ignacio Fernandez Allende, known colloquially in Spain as ‘Torbe’.

However, according to the Spanish weekly Interviu, police investigators have decided against interviewing the players after finding inconsistencies in the witness’ evidence.

It is reported that the witness did not identify the players until her second statement and attempted to sell a “very different version” of the story to two Spanish media outlets.

De Gea, left centre, and Muniain, right centre, with Spain's Under-21s in 2011 (Getty)

It is claimed that the previous version of the story characterised encounters with the players as consensual and that well-natured messages were sent in the days following the incident.

De Gea was implicated in the case shortly before Spain’s national team began their European Championships campaign in France this summer.

The 25-year-old strongly denied the allegations, saying at the time: “I want to refute these allegations. These are lies and mistruths. The matter remains in the hands of my lawyers. It is all false.”

Despite pressure for him to be dropped from the squad, De Gea started as Spain’s goalkeeper in all four of the team’s matches at the tournament.