By now you’ve seen the news that Tottenham Hotspur are close to an agreement with Brighton & Hove Albion for the transfer of Mali international midfielder Yves Bissouma. The fee is still under negotiation but is expected to be around £22m-23m. This has, as expected, thrust Tottenham into a maelstrom of discourse, due to a shroud of legal ambiguity over a sexual assault allegation that has hovered above Bissouma for nearly a year.
We need to talk about that shroud, because this is extremely important, and silence is death.
I want to start by saying that Yves Bissouma is an excellent footballer, and he would indisputably improve Tottenham’s midfield next season. He’s a player that I’ve watched and whose play I’ve admired for a couple of seasons now, and if this signing were taking place purely in a football context then it would be a hugely exciting one. Tottenham Hotspur would be a better-performing football club with Bissouma on the pitch.
But that’s not the issue here. Bissouma’s current legal status is, to put it quite mildly, extremely murky, and due to the nature of the incident in which he is connected (a reported case of sexual assault) at present it is impossible for me to comfortably disentangle Bissouma’s on-pitch ability with what has been reported about what took place that night.
I am not an expert on legal issues in the United Kingdom. I know that libel laws in the UK are strict, and that is almost certainly why Bissouma’s status has not been addressed fully in the media. It’s also why neither Brighton nor Tottenham have issued any sort of public comment. My status as an American and this blog being located in the United States likely gives me more leeway to talk about this situation. However, I feel as though it would be a disservice to speculate at all about Bissouma’s legal status, what he may or may not have done, or what it potentially means. Speculation does no one any good in this matter.
There’s a decent summary of Bissouma’s status on Reddit, with a minimum of editorializing. Very briefly, here’s what we know: in early October 2021, Bissouma was arrested along with another man in his 40s under suspicion for their roles in an incident of sexual assault that took place at a Brighton nightclub. Bissouma was released the following day on bail until November 3. His and the other man’s bail was extended over the next weeks until early January 2022.
The last relevant update from the Sussex Police in April announced that while the man in his 40s has had his bail extended further, Bissouma was “released under investigation while inquiries continue.” Notably, following a short period after the arrest, Bissouma continued to play football for Brighton & Hove Albion and also at the African Cup of Nations with Mali.
In the immediate wake of the incident, Brighton & Hove Albion made the following statement, to my knowledge the only public statement it has made on the incident:
“Brighton and Hove Albion are aware that one of its players is assisting police with the investigation of an alleged offence.
“The matter is subject to a legal process and the club is therefore unable to make further comment at this time.”
Bissouma was not charged with a crime from what happened in October, but he very notably was not fully released from suspicion, and has yet to be. That has put him in a legal grey area where he is (obviously) innocent until proven guilty, but still under a legal cloud that does not eliminate the possibility that he was involved in or committed a crime.
UK libel laws mean that there has been very little actual reporting done on what happened in October, and what we don’t know could fill a volume substantially larger than what we actually do know. There are rumors. You probably know about some of them. They should not factor into our considerations on this issue….
Read More: Tottenham must find a way to reassure supporters about Yves Bissouma, or walk