Interesting. One football club drops a player who was charged with domestic abuse, and another football club grabs him up. Thanks, lads.

On Thursday, with his team mired in the Championship’s relegation zone, [Sheffield Wednesday head coach Danny] Rohl announced his intention to sign free-agent left-back Nico Schulz. Schulz had been training at the club.

Why is he a free agent? He was released by Borussia Dortmund last year after being charged with domestic abuse. Schulz denied the allegations.

Legal proceedings came to an end this week when the case against him was dropped. Schulz agreed to pay €150,000 (£128,000) to domestic violence charities — but was not convicted, with the case officially dropped.

SO let’s err on the side of “the bitch lied” and get on with training.

Schulz’s former partner reported him to German police over domestic abuse allegations in June 2022. The Dortmund district court approved charges against him in February 2023, before the city’s public prosecutor brought those charges to court last December.

The public prosecutor’s office declared charges over the following three accusations:

• (January 2020) After throwing a cup of water on the floor, Schulz allegedly kicked her in the stomach, pushed her against a door, pulled her hair, and threw her against a mirror.
• (March 2020) Straight after coming out of the shower, Schulz pulled her down, kicked her stomach, choked her, and hit her twice.
• (August 2020) While pregnant, he targeted her with misogynistic language, took a key from her, and spat in her face, leading to her fleeing into a nearby business.

But she didn’t want to give evidence, so

…this week the court decided to drop the case if he paid five different charities, including one focused on domestic violence, €30,000 (£26,000) each within three months. He will not have a criminal record.

So Borussia Dortmund thought it worth dropping him but Sheffield Wednesday thought it worth hiring him.