Former Manchester United star George Best was held for 11 hours in an English jail after allegedly assaulting his estranged wife, British media reports said on Saturday.
Best was arrested at about 2 am on Friday in the southern English town of Reigate where he had shared a house with his wife, Alex.
Although police refused to confirm his identity, British newspapers The Sun and the Daily Mirror said it was the former soccer player.
Police said they arrested a 57-year-old man who was later released without charges being filed. Both Best and his wife were reported to have minor injuries.
Best split up with his 31-year-old wife in September when he returned to drinking after being told to give up alcohol following a liver transplant in July 2002.
His wife said she invited him to the house for a late-afternoon Christmas dinner.
”I just wanted to have a nice Christmas,” the Mirror quoted her as saying: ”I invited him out of the goodness of my heart. It was meant to be amicable.”
Best starred on a 1968 Manchester United team that won the European Champions Cup and also played for his native Northern Ireland. — Sapa-AP