A British court on Wednesday refused to release Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy on bail, ordering the player to remain in custody ahead of a potential trial on rape and sexual assault charges.

Judge Steven Everett declined the 27-year-old Frenchman’s bail application at Chester Crown Court in northwest England following a 50-minutes hearing, a court spokesman said, Mendy has been held at a prison in Liverpool since last Friday, when he appeared in court to face four counts of rape and one of sexual assault.

The incidents are alleged to have taken place between October 2020 and August 2021. The footballer, who has been suspended by the club pending investigation, is due to appear at Chester Crown Court on 10 September. A second man, was arrested on suspicion of rape as part of the police investigation into the allegations but was released on bail, police in Cheshire said.