English football is facing its biggest doping crisis with a professional player testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid. It is the first time a footballer in the country has been implicated in the use of a performance-enhancing drug.

The English FA are investigating an unnamed player whose urine sample was found to have contained traces of nandrolone.

The test was done within the past three months, but the FA are refusing to reveal the division in which he plays or if he is British.

Among the continental players banned for nandrolone use - mostly when playing in Italy - were Holland's Frank de Boer, Jaap Stam and Edgar Davids, and Portugal's Fernando Couto.

In many cases, in its tests the FA is not even looking for performance-enhancing drugs. Nearly half the 1,000 tests carried out each season are analysed only for recreational drugs. A number of topplayers have tested positive for these drugs, including Chris Armstrong and Lee Bowyer.

Meanwhile, Middlesbrough's George Boateng has sought to defuse his row with Nick Barmby of Leeds United that escalated following an alleged skirmish between the pair at the end of the weekend encounter at the Riverside.

The midfielder was reported to have claimed that Barmby had made racist comments to him, but a statement issued by the club yesterdaysaid: "George wishes to make clear that he has never accused Nick of making racist remarks as he knows this to be untrue."