Over a hundred HMRC officers were deployed on Wednesday morning in raids on the training grounds and offices of Newcastle and West Ham United.

Newcastle’s St James’ Park and West Ham’s London stadium were both raided alongside West Ham’s training ground in East London.

A number of arrests were made with Charnley being one of them, but he has since been released.

The raids have been reported to be in relation to transfer activity between clubs in France and the UK, focusing on remuneration in terms of image rights, benefits in kind and payments to agents.

Newcastle issued a statement yesterday saying: ‘Newcastle United can confirm that a member of its staff has this morning been assisting HMRC with their inquiries. The Club will be making no further comment at this time.’

West Ham also issued a statement saying: ‘The club is cooperating fully with HMRC to assist their enquiries. No further comment will be made at this time.’

HMRC investigators searched a number of premises, with reports saying that Charley’s house was also searched, and seized business records, financial records, computers and mobile phones.

HMRC said: ‘The French authorities are assisting the UK investigation, have made arrests and several locations have been searched in France.

‘This criminal investigation sends a clear message that, whoever you are, if you commit tax fraud you can expect to face the consequences.

‘As this is an ongoing investigation HMRC is unable to provide any further detail at this time.’