6:00 p.m., December 25, 2021
Where is Gylfi Sigurdsson? On July 16, police arrested an Everton player on suspicion of child sexual abuse. Without revealing his name, in accordance with the procedure, but by making a fairly precise portrait of a 31-year-old married man, an international footballer. In the workforce of the Toffees, they were only two to match the description: the other, the English defender Fabian Delph, did not live very badly that the doubt is not raised. Until the Icelandic daily Morgunbladid quotes the name of Sigurdsson.
In front of the investigators, the latter denied. He was released on bail pending the investigation. In October, it was extended for three months, until January. Until then, the player is suspended. He is still in the workforce of the other club Liverpool but, according to an indiscretion, his leaders are impatiently awaiting the expiration of his contract, next June. In 2017, Everton paid € 50million to snatch him away from Swansea, where he did wonders.
A market value divided by four
The embarrassment is total. New manager Rafael Benítez arrived at the training center arm in arm with the Icelandic on his first day. Since then, it is the omerta; his teammates would be instructed not to speak or come into contact with him.
For five months, Sigurdsson’s social networks have been at a standstill, those of his wife also. This ex-Miss Iceland would be a refugee with her family. The accused is believed to be living under protection in a house provided by Everton, according to the report. Daily Mirror. Several sponsors have suspended their collaboration.
In Iceland, the story was initially astounding. Sigurdsson, 78 caps, is the best player in the national team quarter-finalist at Euro 2016 before participating in his first World Cup two years later. In the Premier League, this elegant leader passed notably by Tottenham has totaled more than 300 matches. Since the investigation began, its market value has been reduced by four, according to the specialist site Transfermarkt.
Resignation en bloc to the Icelandic federation
Then, at the end of August, the scandal spread. The fifteen members of the board of directors of the Icelandic federation (KSI) resigned after the revelation of several sexual assaults committed by past and present internationals. Gudni Bergsson, the president of the KSI, would have covered at least one of these misdeeds, committed in 2017 in a nightclub in Reykjavík by the striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, then at FC Nantes. He admitted “inappropriate” behavior but denied the assault. On the RÚV television channel, his accuser clarified that, to her knowledge, seven players in all had committed reprehensible acts.
According to The Athletic, a first investigation was opened in 2010 against the captain of the national team, the bearded strong in touch Aron Gunnarsson. Last month manager Arnar Vidarsson acknowledged his difficulty in building a competitive squad in the face of the number of pending inquiries.
Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the Icelandic Prime Minister, expressed her “sadness” and wished that the scandal would allow a new and more effective treatment of cases of sexual abuse committed by sportsmen. Sigurdsson, he should be fixed on his fate in the coming months. He certainly has less of a future in football than in darts, where his father was famous.
