In June 2022, a prominent sports news outlet in the UK, The Athletic, reported on the arrest of a Premier League star who was accused of rape.

The player's identity, club affiliation, and nationality were not disclosed in the publication, but they provided hints about the individual's profile.

The player was described as a 29-year-old international footballer who was set to represent his country in the 2022 World Cup.

Additionally, it was revealed that the accused footballer resided in Barnet, London.

The news report and other UK media sources refrained from directly mentioning the player's name or any direct links to the rape allegations.

However, on July 25, 2023, broadcaster Paul Adom-Otchere revealed that the footballer in question is Thomas Partey, a Ghanaian player.

According to Paul Adom-Otchere, it was suggested that Thomas Partey himself informed some Ghanaians about his alleged involvement in the rape scandal, which has been a major topic in the Premier League news cycle since it first broke in June 2022.

The player's bail term was extended to August, further prolonging the ongoing investigation and media attention on the case.

“Recently our hero Thomas Partey had a problem with the British police. Did you see how scanty the information was? All of us were looking for the person but the British police will not tell anyone.

"All we heard were rumors and Partey himself telling some Ghanaians. That is how we got to know.

“They just put a small one line Thomas Partey is being investigated for this. They don’t come to have videos and its live on TV and all that”.

Context

Paul Adom-Otchere expressed his dissatisfaction with the Office of the Special Prosecutor's handling of the arrest of former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.

To highlight his point, Adom-Otchere referred to an alleged incident involving Thomas Partey, drawing a comparison between how the Metropolitan Police of London, UK, handled the situation and how Kissi Agyebeng and his team handled it publicly in Ghana.

As a devoted Manchester United and Asante Kotoko fan, Adom-Otchere likened the conduct of the Office of the Special Prosecutor to Andre Dede Ayew's actions during Ghana's game against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in March 2023.

“Special prosecutor, we love you but you are not Dede Ayew. You aren’t the captain of the Black Stars. You are not Black Sherrif, Shatta Wale, Piesie Esther, DKB, Delay or Afia Schwarzenegger.

"You are the distinguished Special Prosecutor, a barrister at law and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana.

“Don’t be arresting people with funfair. It shouldn’t be live on radio and you shouldn’t be tweeting about it. If you are going to arrest people then you call media to follow you. We don’t want to see how you do your work just deliver to the nation. You are stigmatizing the people,” he fumed on his show.