Bradford-raised footballer Tom Cleverley has accepted substantial damages from a national newspaper over claims he “badgered” a woman for sex after a lookalike pretended to be the midfielder.

The 22-year-old Bradford City youth product brought High Court proceedings against News Group Newspapers over a story in The Sun in August which left him “extremely upset and embarrassed”, said his advocate David Price QC yesterday.

The Manchester United star has accepted an apology, substantial undisclosed libel damages and costs over the story which, Mr Price told Mr Justice Tugendhat, alleged he had met a woman in a Blackpool nightclub and bombarded her with texts offering her sex.

He was then alleged to have taken her to a B&B were he introduced her to his bodyguard and did a Google search to demonstrate he was a famous footballer.

Mr Price said: “Most seriously, the article then alleged that he repeatedly badgered her for sex despite her saying no.”

He said the truth was Mr Cleverley had never met the woman involved and was at home with his girlfriend in Manchester at the time of the alleged incident.

He said: “It transpires that, entirely unknown to the girl involved, an individual from Shipley, West Yorkshire, who resembles Mr Cleverley was impersonating him, while another individual from the same town pretended to be his bodyguard.

“While these two individuals are from Mr Cleverley’s local area, he does not know them and had no knowledge they were practising such deception.”

Mr Cleverley started his career at Bradford before joining Manchester United at the age of 12.