Justice: Benjamin Mendy kept in prison, his trial will begin on January 24

Placed in pre-trial detention since August 26, Benjamin Mendy saw his charges worsen on Thursday.

To the four rapes and one sexual assault (on four women aged 16 and over between October 2020 and August 2021) of which he was charged were officially added on Thursday two new complaints for rape now linked to the previous ones.

The court in Chester, in the north of England, made the decision after a hearing in which the international did not participate, already heard the day before by Judge Margaret McCormack.

A procedural hearing on December 22 before trial a month later

A procedural hearing must now be held on December 22, indicates the Manchester Evening. The date of the trial is set for January 24, 2022. Pending his appearance and that of another man, Louis Saha Matturie, 40, also prosecuted for several rapes but whose links with the French have not been clearly established, the Manchester City player will remain in prison.

Trained in Le Havre, revealed in Marseille and spent a season with Monaco, Mendy had become the most expensive defender in history in 2017 when the Citizens did not hesitate to pay 52 million pounds (about 60 million euros) to secure its services.

When he arrived at City, where he had a year and a half left on his contract, he was considered one of the great French and world hopes as left-back.

But the career of the now 27-year-old player has been hampered for four years by injuries, before being hampered by this legal process.