Manchester United midfielder Herrera could be jailed for four years

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Bengaluru, February 28: Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera was hit with a new setback last night after it emerged that La Liga prosecutors want him jailed for four years for an alleged match-fixing scandal.

Spanish state prosecutors said they were demanding a two-year prison sentence and six-year footballing ban for the midfielder and 35 other footballers in an indictment lodged with a court in Valencia earlier this month.

Two-year prison sentences for first-time offenders in Spain are normally suspended, meaning if Herrera was convicted of sports corruption he would probably escape jail.

But on Monday (February 26) it emerged lawyers for Spain’s top league were demanding stiffer penalties than the state lawyers if they are found guilty of sports corruption.

They have also launched legal action against the footballers involved in the May 2011 match between Herrera’s former side Real Zaragoza and Levante.

Respected papers including Valencia-based daily Las Provincias said the four-year prison demands - the maximum sentence possible - were part of the indictment La Liga lawyers have lodged with Valencia’s Court of Instruction Number Eight.

The indictment is also understood to call for the same six-year worldwide soccer ban the state wants them hit with if the footballers including Herrera are convicted at a trial expected to take place at the end of this year or the start of next.

Deportivo La Coruna, the team relegated as a result of Zaragoza’s 2-1 away win against Levante, has yet to submit its indictment.

Sources at the club said they were unable to say when its lawyers would lodge their formal accusation in writing.

Under Spanish law, lawyers for the club and La Liga can prosecute the footballers in the same courtroom as part of cases that run parallel to the state prosecution.