Bolton, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth also were cited in the report by former London police chief John Stevens. He called on the English Football Association and world governing body FIFA to investigate the conduct of certain agents.

Stevens spent two years examining 362 deals following media allegations that managers, players or agents had been taking kickbacks from transfers. He said today there was no evidence of irregular payments to any club officials or players, but listed 17 transfers that may have broken Premier League or FA rules.

Stevens cited four deals related to Newcastle signings (Emre Belozoglu, Jean Alain Boumsong, Amady Faye, Albert Luque), four to Bolton (Ali Al-Habsi, Tal Ben Haim, Blessing Kaku, Julio Correia), three to Chelsea (Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, Michael Essien), three to Portsmouth (Collins Mbesuma, Benjani Mwaruwari, Aliou Cisse) and two to Middlesbrough (Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Fabio Rochemback).

"If further information is obtained by the relevant authorities the precise position may alter," Stevens said. "We would urge those individuals named (in the report) to now fully co-operate in order to assist with resolving all matters."

The Premier League and the FA accepted partial responsibility, saying they did not exercise "effective checking and verification systems" in the transfer process.