Manchester United and Brazil winger Antony is at the centre of a fresh storm after two more women came forward to make accusations against him.
Rayssa de Freitas, an influencer and law student, claims she suffered bodily injury after being assaulted by Antony and a woman in May last year, according to reports in Brazil.
Brazilian newspaper Extra claim that De Freitas reported the alleged incident to the Sao Paulo Civil Police on May 20 last year for which she required hospital treatment.
Another woman, Ingrid Lana, a banker, has claimed in a television interview with journalist Robert Cabrini from Record that she was pressured by Antony to have sex while on a business trip to England last year.
Lana alleged that Antony invited her to his house and pushed her against a wall which led to her banging her head. “He tried to have a relationship with me and I didn’t want to,” Lana claimed in the interview. “He pushed me against the wall and I hit my head. My purpose was just business. Arriving there at his invitation, I realised he had ulterior motives.”
Antony’s representatives were approached for comment on Thursday night. United declined to comment.
An £85 million signing from Ajax last summer, Antony, 23, is currently being investigated by police in Greater Manchester and Sao Paulo over allegations he assaulted a former girlfriend, Gabriela Cavallin.
He released a statement on Instagram on Monday in which he said his relationship with Cavallin had been “tumultuous, with verbal offenses [sic] from both sides”.
But the Brazilian vehemently denied “any physical aggression” and said he trusted “the ongoing police investigations will reveal the truth about my innocence”.
United have strenuously denied explosive claims that the club tried to cover up allegations that Antony attacked Cavallin at a Manchester hotel.
Cavallin, a DJ and influencer, has made the claims in relation to an alleged attack on her by Antony at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Manchester on January 15, the day after United beat Manchester City 2-1 at Old Trafford.
In a legal request by Cavallin’s lawyer Daniel Bialski to Sao Paulo Civic Police, it is claimed United tried to “hush up” the alleged attack by using a club employee to arrange for a private doctor to treat the woman instead of Cavallin going to hospital where she may have been questioned about the alleged incident.
The request filed by Cavallin’s legal team has alleged that Antony, “in one of his violent bouts of jealousy”, headbutted the women, causing a cut on her head, and that the alleged attack led to one of her breast implants being damaged for which she later required surgery.
United have emphatically refuted claims of a “cover up”. In a statement, the club said: “Any suggestion that the club covered up these allegations is categorically false.”
Police are investigating allegations that Cavallin was subjected to a number of attacks by Antony between June last year and May this year. Greater Manchester Police are looking into the alleged incident at the Hyatt and accusations of an attack by Antony on Cavallin at a house on May 8, the day after the Brazil winger played for United in a 1-0 defeat away to West Ham in London.
United have confirmed that a member of staff arranged for a private doctor to visit Cavallin at Antony’s request but say no club medical staff were involved in treating her. United also insisted that neither the club nor member of staff had any indication of the medical issue being related to any form of violence. The club add that it is commonplace for their welfare department to arrange for doctors to see partners and family members of players.
Antony was dropped from the Brazil squad on Monday night for their forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Peru.
United resisted calls from domestic abuse charities to suspend Antony on Wednesday but announced in a statement on Wednesday that they were treating the matter “seriously”, with “consideration of the impact of these allegations and subsequent reporting will have on survivors of abuse”.
United were severely rebuked for their handling of the Mason Greenwood case. The club said they had listened to the criticism and learned lessons from that as they now deal with the situation around Antony, including seeking external expert advice from Women’s Aid and the Professional Footballers’ Association.
Sources said the club had been advised to proceed cautiously on the basis that police enquiries are taking place in both Brazil and the UK and innocence unless proven guilty remains an important principle in both jurisdictions.
Greenwood was suspended by United after being arrested in January last year following the publication on social media of images and audio clips.
After charges of attempted rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling and coercive behaviour against Greenwood were dropped by the Crown Prosection Service in February after key witnesses withdrew and new material came to light, United launched an internal investigation.
Following their inquiries, United said they were satisfied that Greenwood “did not commit the offences in respect of which he was originally charged”, despite admitting they had “limited powers of investigation”. United had also been unable to interview the alleged victim.
United had been preparing to reintegrate Greenwood into their squad only for the news to leak and spark a fierce public and internal backlash.
It led United to announce on August 21 that Greenwood would leave the club and on Friday the striker joined Spanish club Getafe on a season long loan.
