The Premier League want Portsmouth to clear their debts with Watford.

The Times says Pompey are struggling to persuade the Premier League to lift the transfer embargo in time to strengthen their relegation-threatened squad next month.

Portsmouth owe money to Chelsea over the signing of Glen Johnson, since sold to Liverpool, and to Tottenham Hotspur over the acquisitions of Jermain Defoe and Younes Kaboul, but the Premier League says the payments due to Watford, over the summer signings of Mike Williamson and Tommy Smith, are the most pressing.

Premier League chief Richard Scudamore has told Mark Jacob, the Portsmouth executive director, that it would be disastrous if a Football League club were forced into administration because a Premier League club could not afford to pay transfer fees due under the terms of an agreed contract.