FA to take close look at United's Kleberson transaction

The Football Association will consider written evidence on Manchester United's dealings with Atletico Paranaense over the transfer of Kleberson last summer before deciding whether to launch an investigation.

Newspaper reports allege that the Brazilian club was forced to negotiate only with agents stipulated by United and Kleberson's own representative, Juan Figer, was frozen out of the deal.

"I am very disturbed. Peter Kenyon [United's then chief executive] called me and said he wanted to buy Kleberson," the Paranaense president, Mario Celso Petraglia, said. "He told me I should negotiate with two agents selected by Manchester United."

Figer, who is reported to have lost out on £480,000 after receiving the cold shoulder, added: "United cannot be allowed to behave like this. I am prepared to go to court, to go to Fifa, in fact to do whatever it takes to get justice."

The FA has yet to receive the evidence but it has said that any information would be carefully considered before a decision was taken on its next move.

"If they [the Sunday newspaper] have any information, they should pass it on to us and we would consider any developments from there," the FA spokesman, Adrian Bevington, said. "There is no formal investigation going on into this. We simply expect to receive any information making such allegations and our compliance unit will then consider it.

"We need to see what the information is and then we will decide if any developments are necessary," he added.

United's director of communications, Paddy Harverson, said that the club would happily co-operate with any investigation, should one arise. "At no point whatsoever did we insist the deal be done through two agents. It is absolutely not correct," he said. "Like all our deals, the documentation goes through the FA and all the payments go through the FA, so it is there for anyone to see."

United's £3.2m summer transfer of the American goalkeeper Tim Howard from New York-New Jersey Metrostars is currently being investigated by the FA.