Hammers charged by Premier League
The Argentinean players' transfers could land the Hammers in hot water
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Friday, 02, Mar 2007 10:15
The Premier League has announced it is charging West Ham United with a breach of its rules in relation to the transfers of Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez.
The Argentinean pair were the subject of a transfer deal struck between the east London club, the players' former team Corinthians and Media Sports Investment (MSI) - the group that allegedly owns a portion of the rights to the players.
It is this relationship that has caused the Premier League to take action.
In a statement, the Premier League board said: "It is the board's complaint that there were agreements in relation to both these transfers that enabled third parties to acquire the ability materially to influence the club's policies and/or the performance of its teams in league matches and/or the competitions set out in rule E10.
The Premier League also claims that at the time of the transfers, and until January 24th 2007, West Ham "failed to disclose the third-party agreements to the Premier League and/or deliberately withheld these agreements from the Premier League".
"The board's view is this constitutes a breach of rule B.13, which states, 'In all matters and transactions relating to the league each club shall behave towards each other club and the league with the utmost good faith,'" the statement added.
West Ham have 14 days to respond to the charges.
If the club is found guilty West Ham could face a number of penalties, including having to replay matches in which the players were involved, having points deducted or, in a worst-case scenario, being suspended from the league altogether.