CARLOS Tevez will take a big step towards becoming a United player when he jets in to Manchester for an Old Trafford medical on Tuesday.
But even if he gets the thumbs up from the Reds' doctors his transfer from West Ham still needs to be ratified by the Premier League and the controversial affair remains locked in a mess of red tape.
The Argentinian's adviser Kia Joorabchian, who heads the MSI company who own Tevez's economic rights, last night released a statement confirming the transfer will go ahead after Argentina have played Brazil in the final of Copa America on Sunday.
It read: "On Tuesday Carlos Tevez will fly to Britain for a medical at Old Trafford as part of the process of his transfer to Manchester United.
"It is our understanding that all parties involved in the transfer are now satisfied the administrative issues would be
settled in the next few days.
"We will not be adding further to this statement at this time."
However, the Premier League and West Ham have poured cold water on Koorabchian's claim and insist that a deal still cannot be rubber-stamped.
The Premier League remain adamant United, who have agreed a deal with Koorabchian and MSI, must do business with the Hammers before the transfer can be given the green light.
A Premier League spokesman said: "Any deal for Carlos Tevez has to be done directly with West Ham United.
"They hold the registration and we will not transfer the registration unless a deal is done directly with the club. The situation hasn't changed."
Meanwhile a West Ham spokesman added: "There is no deal in place regarding Carlos Tevez. He remains contracted to and registered with West Ham and there is no change to that situation. Obviously, a move cannot take place without the agreement of West Ham and the Premier League."
Reds boss Sir Alex Ferguson though remains confident he'll have Tevez on the payroll for the Premiership kick off.
"I think we have got the player - we think he is our player and are very hopeful," he said.
"The Premier League seem to be holding back, I think they probably want to make sure everything is transparent."
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Mick, Dublin (13/07/2007 at 09:56)
I was thinking about this last night and it's all actually quite straightforward. Tevez signed a contract with West Ham on August 31st last year to join them on a loan-deal, FOR ONE SEASON. That much was clear from the outset. As Joorabchian himself said last night "it was mutually agreed he would be there for a year and he has served his year"
While he was under contract at WHU, he was registered with the Premier League as a West Ham player.
Now, since the end of the season, Tevez is under contract to nobody other than MIS. Sure, West Ham might have "torn up" this contract after they got hit with a fine and the threat that Tevez might not be able to play in their last few games but that doesn't mean anything. As the Premiership's own panel of arbitration recently said, this arrangement was not "legally watertight" (which is putting it mildly!) because neither Tevez nor his agent signed this new contract.
This "contract" is no more legally binding than if any of our employers altered our contract at work to say we will work a 7-day week at half our previous salary. No signature from the employee, no contract.
This means the only agreement that ever linked Tevez with West Ham was the short-term contract he signed in August and this has expired. He is contracted to MIS and nobody else. This is why United lawyers were so confident it's a done deal and why Joorabchian was being so bullish last night. The ownership of Tevez has absolutely NOTHING to do with West Ham.
The Hammers are backed into a corner here. When they told the Premier League they had assumed sole ownership of Tevez in April they were told they had to defend this stance, no matter what. This was the only way that the Premiership would allow him to play in their last few games of the season. Hence, they keep repeating their statement that he is a West Ham player. They have to say this. Even though their lawyers must know that if this gets challenged in a court of law they're donald-ducked.
The only sticking point is his registration. But even this would be invalid if subjected to legal challenge. You cannot hold the registration of a player who is not under contract at your club. Otherwise, what's to stop clubs registering players from other clubs on the last day of the transfer window then thrashing out the contract at a later date? No contract, no registration.
The Premier League know this. But they are sitting back and giving West Ham enough rope to hang themselves. The PL will just say that they took West Ham's assurances at face value and, if they are subsequently proved to have been invalid, the League will just throw the book at West Ham, big-time for deliberately misleading them(again!)The Premier League can then say that they have acted in an entirely appropriate and consistent manner throughout.
All of the legal aspect are so cut and dried that I don't see this going to court. West Ham are putting on a brave face but they have to crack soon and it's in their own best interest that they cut some sort of deal before the lawyers get involved. Which is why Joorabchian issued his statement last night, the day befoe SU go to the high court. he's just ratcheting the pressure up on West Ham, trying to speed up their inevitable climb-down. The Hammer are obviously waiting until after today's court case to make their next move.
So, I'm feeling quietly confident. Tevez WILL be a United player before the summer's out and West Ham WILL find themselves in a whole world of hurt in the very near future.