MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish police briefly arrested Manchester City midfielder and Portugal international Matheus Nunes last month for allegedly stealing a mobile phone, a police source told Reuters on Wednesday, confirming a report in El Mundo newspaper.
Nunes forced a high-end phone out of the hands of a 58-year-old man in a Madrid night club, believing that the man had taken a picture of Nunes without his consent in the bathroom, El Mundo said.
Asked about the arrest, a police spokesperson in Madrid said a Portuguese citizen had been arrested on Sept. 8 at 5:30 a.m. in a downtown night club for alleged robbery of a high-end phone. After being questioned at a police station, the man was released pending trial.
A police source confirmed the arrested person was Nunes, adding that the case was being treated as a robbery and not as theft because the phone’s value exceeded 300 euros ($332).
A spokesperson for Nunes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brazil-born Nunes, 26, joined Premier League champions Manchester City from Wolverhampton Wanderers last season. Despite being part of the Portugal squad at Euro 2024 in Germany in June and July, he was not called up for international duty last month.
($1 = 0.9032 euros)
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Fernando Kallas; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
