Former Newcastle midfielder Sylvain Marveaux was among four people arrested in France over the £5million football tax probe engulfing British clubs, it has been reported.

Sources close to the investigation that also involves West Ham said the 31-year-old was “answering questions”.

Marveaux signed a five-year deal with Newcastle in June 2011 and was finally released in May 2016.

During this period Marveaux was loaned to French side Guingamp, and is now with League 1 side Lorient.

In its coverage of those arrested in France, today’s Le Parisien newspaper writes: “According to our information, they are three players’ agents, as well as Lorient’s attacking midfielder Sylvain Marveaux, the former Newcastle player.”

The role of agents is the main focus of the investigation, according to sources on both side of the Channel.

Around 180 officers were involved in raids in the UK and France, with Britain’s HMRC saying it had “arrested several men working within the professional football industry for a suspected income tax and national insurance fraud. Investigators have searched a number of premises in the North-East and South-East of England and arrested men and also seized business records, financial records, computers and mobile phones. The French authorities are assisting the UK investigation, and have made arrests and several locations have been searched in France.”

​Marveaux played only 38 games for Newcastle in four years, and when signing for Lorient he described his time in the Premier League as “a failure”.

Discussing Newcastle’s former manager Alan Pardew, he said: “I always tried to stay positive and make the maximum impact. At one time, my relationship with the coach was a little tough. So, I had to leave, that’s why I asked to go out on loan, including Guingamp.”

A source at Lorient today said Marveaux was suffering from a hamstring injury picked up two weeks ago during a game against Montpellier.

He said Marveaux was training by cycling indoors and was hoping to get back to full fitness. There was no comment on the legal allegations.

Beyond the four arrests in France, legal sources said there had been “10 raids of various locations” over the past week. In France it is reported that other clubs being investigated include Marseille.

Senior Marseille directors have been charged as part of the probe, with around 800 bank accounts and 110 companies examined.

The deals Marseille have done include several involving West Ham and Newcastle, although it is not known whether any of these are the subject of the current investigation.

Dimitri Payet arrived from the Ligue 1 side for £12m and then returned to Marseille in January for £25m. Midfielder Alou Diarra also made the move from Marseille to West Ham, arriving for £2m in 2012.

Newcastle, meanwhile, bought Florian Thauvin for a reported £15m in 2015 and loaned him back to Marseille for two seasons. He was due to be sold back this summer for £9.8m.

Newcastle also bought Remy Cabella from Marseille in 2014 for a reported £8m. He was also loaned back until the transfer was made permanent last August.

The French inquiry is being run by examining magistrate Guillaume Cotelle. Marseille have the 20th highest wage bill in European football, paying their staff £82m a year.

Meanwhile, West Ham today ruled out any questions to Slaven Bilic about the raid.

Around 50 officers visited the London Stadium and West Ham’s training ground at Rush Green.

Before this morning’s press conference to preview this weekend’s game away to Stoke, the club’s head of media relations, Max Fitzgerald, said no questions about the investigation should be directed to the West Ham manager, particularly since the squad were on a day off and were not at the training ground yesterday.

In a statement yesterday, West Ham said they were “co-operating fully with HMRC to assist their inquiries”.

HMRC officers also visited Chelsea although the club are not implicated in any wrongdoing.