West Ham United have been charged with a breach of Premier League rules in relation to the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.

The club are accused of breaking rule U18, which forbids the ownership of players by a third party. If found guilty, the Hammers could be fined or even have points deducted.

West Ham are currently 19th in the Premiership, nine points adrift of safety and a points deduction would almost certainly mean relegation to the Championship for the Hammers.

West Ham signed Tevez and Mascherano, who had starred for Argentina in the World Cup, from Brazilian side Corinthians in August. However, the deal was brokered by Media Sports Investment company (MSI) who owned the rights to both players.

Mascherano has since joined Liverpool during the January transfer window.

The charges had been expected by West Ham but the whole issue has arisen at the worst possible time for the relegation-threatened club.

The transfers were negotiated by Terence Brown, the former chairman and managing director Paul Aldridge, both of whom have left the club since the takeover by a consortium headed by Eggert Magnusson, the Icelandic businessman.

West Ham would certainly appeal against any points deduction and will claim they have acted in good faith ever since Magnusson took control of the club in December.

The current chairman has admitted, however, that he would never have entered into the sort of transfer agreement that brought the players to Upton Park on transfer deadline day last August.

A Premier League statement 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 board's view is this constitutes a breach of rule U18.

"Furthermore at the time of the transfer agreements for both Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, and until 24 January 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 B13, 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'.

"West Ham United has 14 days within which to respond to these charges."

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