NEWCASTLE United footballer Nile Ranger has been charged with assault after an alleged attack that left a man fearing he had a broken jaw.

The 20-year-old forward will face magistrates twice in two days - and three times this month - following arrests for violence, drink-driving, and being drunk and disorderly.

London-born Ranger, who plays for Newcastle United, has yet to enter pleas to any of the charges.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: ''Following an assault outside Cosy Joe's pub in the Bigg Market, Newcastle, on Saturday August 27 police have today charged Nile Ranger, 20, of Forest Hall, with two counts of common assault and two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

''He has been bailed to appear at Newcastle Magistrates' Court on Friday November 18.''

Police questioned the striker for more than four hours on Sunday after he was arrested in the early hours of the morning in Newcastle's Cathedral Square, near the city's Tup Tup Palace nightclub.

He is due before Newcastle magistrates on November 17, for being drunk and disorderly.

That arrest came just days after Ranger learned he will face court action, on November 10, for an alleged drink-driving offence.

The troubled forward, who has only just been reinstated to first-team training after a three-month exile in the Newcastle United reserves, was told to find a new club in the summer after several warnings about his discipline.

A Newcastle United spokesman declined to comment today.