Fifa probe offers little comfort for Blades

The news that Fifa, football's global governing body, is to investigate the transfers of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano will at first sight have heartened Sheffield United and the other clubs arguing that the Hammers were treated leniently. However, Fifa's record in such cases suggests the intervention is nothing but window dressing, and that any investigation will quietly fade away.

Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter, not a man to stand aside when some posturing is possible, said: "We are monitoring this situation very carefully and we will look at the files once it has been dealt with by the English [Premier] League and the Football Association. We will look at this, and not only if we are asked. We will do it anyway."

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Fifa has, though, already looked into the transfers when it sanctioned Mascherano's January switch to Liverpool, a move which, in theory, breached rules barring footballers from playing for three clubs in one season. The Argentine had previously played for Corinthians, of Brazil.

Blatter added: "According to our files the transfer of Tevez and Mascherano [from Corinthians to West Ham] was done correctly according to the international transfer of players."

Blatter, incidentally, was responding to a question at Fifa's regular media briefing in Switzerland, rather than raising the issue of his own accord. An independent commission fined West Ham £5.5m after the club were found guilty of breaking Premier League rules.

West Ham had entered into a private agreement with a third-party company when they signed Tevez and Mascherano in August, then lied about doing so to the League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore. They did, however, cancel the third-party agreement, to the Premier League's satisfaction.

Sheffield United, who were relegated on Sunday after West Ham won at Old Trafford, head a group of clubs who argue that the Hammers should have been deducted points, and who continue to question the eligibility of Tevez.

However, while the Premier League's handling of the issue has been ham-fisted and tardy it seems unlikely that the commission's decision can be overturned. The League yesterday wrote to all 20 member clubs explaining why the decision is binding, pointing out that it had accepted the commission's validity and independence before the verdict was issued.

While this, and greater transparency regarding the paperwork on Tevez, may deter Sheffield United and others, the relegated club could yet sue West Ham for damages on the grounds that they had breached the duty, under Premier League rules, for clubs to "behave with the utmost good faith and honesty to each other".