was £87.5m.

A Russian media company with close links to Mr Usmanov initially reported the Everton deal as "Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov has become the new owner of Everton". The report was soon taken down but suspicions were aroused.

The suspicions rose further this January when it was announced Everton's training ground, Finch Farm, was now being sponsored by Mr Usmanov's company, USM Holdings . The training ground has been renamed USM Finch Farm.

When BBC Panorama approached Mr Moshiri and asked him whether Mr Usmanov was in control of Everton, he asked: "Are you crazy? Have you seen a psychiatrist?"

He said: "If it is a loan, you owe the money back to him. If it is a gift, it is yours. It is neither of them because I paid forit."

Image caption Ex-FA chairman Greg Dyke on how the Premier League may respond

Mr Moshiri later said that all the documents that mentioned a gift were "a mistake".

Mr Moshiri's legal representatives said the Premier League had carried out checks, including on its funding, and was satisfied that he had complied with its Owners' and Directors' Test.

They also said that Mr Moshiri, who is said by Forbes magazine to be worth $2.4bn, had subsequently provided considerably more finance to Everton.

Former FA chairman Greg Dyke told Panorama that a gift "sounds unusual", adding: "If these papers say what you say they say, I feel sure that the Premier League will want to do their own investigations."

And shadow culture minister Tom Watson has said he will be writing to the Premier League