Nottingham Forest’s Gonzalo Montiel has been ordered to return to Argentina for a psychiatric evaluation as part of an ongoing rape probe.
Investigators want a shrink to see the 27-year-old World Cup winner after he was accused of sexually assaulting a model at his birthday party.
Montiel, set to return to LaLiga side Sevilla at the end of the season following his year-long loan to Forest, denies any wrongdoing.
The defender has been summoned to attend a court office in the city of San Justo on the outskirts of Buenos Aires on September 17 and 20, according to national media.
A friend named as Alexis Acosta, the other man named as being under formal investigation over the rape claims, is understood to have been ordered to undergo the same type of evaluation on September 2 and 5.
Gonzalo Montiel has been ordered to return to Argentina for a psychiatric evalution
The Sevilla defender has been on loan at Nottingham Forest this season in the Premier League
Their female accuser has accused Montiel, whose partner Karina Nacucchio has publicly supported him, of sexually assaulting her on January 1 2019.
She is claiming she was drugged before being raped and subsequently threatened by the player’s relatives and associates.
Montiel testified voluntarily before a judge in June last year before being informed he was being placed under formal investigation.
The ongoing criminal probe is being led by a court in Lomas de Zamora a 25-minute drive from San Justo.
Montiel, who scored the final penalty in the 2022 World Cup shootout against France, was playing for River Plate at the time of the alleged rape.
Raquel Hermida, the lawyer of the woman accusing the footballer, has denied reports the investigation against him had been shelved.
She is understood to have requested the psychiatric evaluations after alleging ‘irregularities’ in the case.
Last month she posted a video of her client speaking out with her face partially hidden behind sunglasses and saying: ‘I am Carolina, a model and hostess and survivor of group sex abuse in which the principal author was Gonzalo Montiel, who scored the last goal in the World Cup.’
Montiel denies any involvement in the alleged crime at his birthday party in January 2019
The brunette, who only revealed her first name, added: ‘It was his birthday and he invited me to his home. We were getting to know each other.
‘They drugged me until I was unconscious. That was proven during the investigation, that and my screaming during the party.
‘Gonzalo raped me. I spent a long time looking for lawyers. All of them wanted to negotiate. None wanted to go to trial.
‘I give thanks to the foundation which provided me with psychologists and psychiatrists and my lawyer Raquel.’
Nottingham Forest said before they brought right-back Montiel to the club they had ‘conducted due diligence and are fully satisfied’ with him despite knowing then he was under investigation for an alleged rape.
The Premier League strugglers said in response to a list of questions about the case sent by The Athletic: ”The club has conducted due diligence and we are fully satisfied following conversations with his representatives.’
Montiel was part of the Argentina side that won the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar and scored in the penalty shootout
The woman at the centre of the case was reportedly unable to name or describe the men allegedly involved in the rape when she was initially quizzed shortly after a complaint was filed, admitting she remembered nothing and was told afterwards she had been sexually assaulted.
The case was reactivated after she made a series of anonymous TV appearances in her homeland and said she was able to recall more details as a result of psychological therapy.
Montiel has made a statement under oath denying any wrongdoing after going to the authorities of his own volition.
Prosecutors have not yet submitted any indictments and it has not been confirmed the case will end up going to trial.