The English Football Association has offered its compliance officer Graham Bean a pay-off, casting doubt on his ongoing investigations into the former Aston Villa manager John Gregory and the Proactive sports management group.

FA officials, including the joint acting chief executives David Davies and Nic Coward, together with the director of marketing and communication Paul Barber, met to discuss Bean's role last week. The former Yorkshire detective constable was offered a financial settlement on Monday and is understood to be considering whether to take it.

Bean, popularly known as the "bung buster" who ended his 18-year career in the force to take up the FA's post in November 1998, has made no secret of his disillusionment at the lack of support he feels he has received within English football's governing body. Should he decide to leave, the dossiers he has been compiling may come to nothing. The FA's compliance unit does include two more officers though Bean has been pivotal in the investigations into such as Gregory.

Bean is understood to be around two months from possibly bringing formal charges against Gregory, who is waiting a high-court writ from Derby County over the alleged irregularities which prompted his dismissal from Pride Park last season. Bean's investigation has been unaffected by the recent cost-cutting at Soho Square.

Gregory insists he acted within the laws at Villa, most notably over the purchase of Bosko Balaban and Juan Pablo Angel for a total of £16 million, and is ready to contest any case.

Bean has also spent much of the past month conducting an investigation into Proactive and its chief executive Paul Stretford. This week he met Danish journalists for further talks into allegations about several transfers, including Peter Schmeichel's to Manchester City last summer.

Meanwhile, Blackburn's manager Graeme Souness is ready to bid £1.5 million for the Sunderland midfielder Claudio Reyna. Souness sees the 29-year-old as a means of plugging the gap left by David Dunn's expected £5.5 million move to Birmingham. "Claudio is a player Graeme would like," said Blackburn's chief executive John Williams. "He is a player we are keeping an eye on." Blackburn also expect to finalise a £1.4 million move for Rangers defender Lorenzo Amoruso.