Ex-Premier League star sentenced to eight and a half years in jail for sexual assault given permission to join new club

SportFootball RAFA MIR has been given permission to join a new club despite being sentenced to prison for sexual assault. Last month he was sentenced to eight and a half years for the rape and assault of a young woman in August 2024. Rafa Mir was sentenced to prison for sexual assault Credit: Getty He previously played for Wolves and Nottingham Forest Credit: Getty Mir, 29, has denied in court that the assault took place in his home in Spanish town Bétera and claimed that it was consensual. He was also slapped with a 13-year restraining order that forbids him from going within 500 metres of his victim and has been ordered to pay more than £55,000 in damages. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! He has appealed the verdict, and the prosecutor has said he will not enter prison until the end of the appeal. Despite this, he was convicted of the crime, which brought his career at Sevilla in LaLiga to an end. He spent the last two seasons on loan away from the club at Valencia and Elche. His contract at Sevilla has now been terminated, leaving him on the free agent market. He is now reportedly set to sign for Greek club Aris Thessaloniki, but there is a condition on him in order to live outside of Spain. Mir has had to obtain permission from the Provincial Court of Valencia to approve his relocation for work. Most read in Sport Mir last played for Elche in LaLiga Credit: Getty Mir once scored against Manchester City in the Champions League Credit: Reuters He will have to sign in every month at the Spanish consulate in Thessaloniki. As Greece is a part of the EU, any non-compliance would lead to a European arrest warrant being invoked. Mir previously spent three seasons contracted to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League. He only appeared twice in the league for the club and had a loan spell at then-Championship outfit Nottingham Forest. The striker played four times for Wolves and 13 times for Forest but never scored a goal for either side. He has once found the net on English soil, which came for Sevilla in a 3-1 Champions League defeat to Manchester City in 2022. At Aris, he will now be team-mates with former Manchester City prospect and Watford midfielder Tom Dele Bashiru.