The Sunderland defender was held for questioning by Cleveland Police following an incident in the early hours of today.

A force spokeswoman said: "A 30-year-old man from Wynyard has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and possession of a class A drug."

Tonight she said the man had been released on bail pending further inquiries.

Last year Bramble, who played in his team's 2-1 defeat at Norwich on Monday, was arrested by Northumbria Police over an alleged rape in a Newcastle hotel but he was later released without charge.

His brother, Tesfaye, was jailed for four-and-a-half years last month after he was convicted of raping a 19-year-old a year ago.

Bramble's career started at his hometown club, Ipswich, before he moved to Newcastle under Sir Bobby Robson for £6million.

He joined Wigan and then moved back to the north-east when he joined Sunderland last year. He scored for the Wearside club in their last home game - a 4-0 defeat of Stoke on September 18.

The powerful but sometimes error-prone centre-back was picked 10 times for England's Under-21s.

A Sunderland spokesman said: "This is something we would be looking to address when we reconvene tomorrow morning."