Southampton midfielder Mario Lemina has been ordered to pay £96,425 for failing to tell police who was driving his car when it was caught speeding three times.
Lemina, 25, claimed he did not know whether it was him, his brother or cousin who was driving the car when it was caught by a speed camera and was given 18 points on top of the 21 he already had on his non-UK licence.
Lemina failed to respond to Hampshire Police's letters asking him to identify the driver of the £50,000 Mercedes and has been banned from driving for one year.
He admitted all three charges, but three other charges of speeding - driving at 95mph on a dual carriageway and twice going at 60mph in a temporary 40mph speed limit - were dropped and he was fined £32,000 for each offence. The offences would have been £48,000 each, but the court accounted for his guilty pleas. A further £85 cost per case and a victim surcharge of £170 brought the total fine to £96,425.
Southampton told The Independent that they will be “speaking to the player” about the incident.
The Gabonese central midfielder, who joined Southampton for a record £18.1m fee last year, did not appear in court himself and instead relied on his lawyer, Cliff Morris, to submit his pleas at Aldershot Magistrates court.
“He didn’t realise the important of the forms,” said Morris. “English is not his first language, and his English is not particularly good.
“He is not sure if his brother or cousin was driving the vehicle at the time and the photographs don’t assist with this.
“He thought it best to plead guilty to failing to provide identification,” Morris continued. “He accepts he should have filed the paperwork.
“The football club only discovered he had paperwork when he attended his office to assist with other matters, his wife has just had a baby in the last 10 days.
“There’s a degree of disorganisation. He knows what this will automatically mean for him.”
Lemina’s 39 points on his licence gives him more points than Southampton achieved last season in the Premier League when Mark Hughes successfully steered them away from relegation after a poor first half of the season under Mauricio Pellegrino.
Lemina was in action against Crystal Palace on Saturday and helped his side to a 2-0 win, their first victory of the season.
