Hammers' 'rights' to Tevez hold up United

The Premier League will threaten West Ham United with another inquiry if the club does not keep most of the £35m transfer fee Manchester United could pay for Carlos Tevez.

Last night West Ham reacted by asserting their "rights" to the striker which sets them on a collision course with Kia Joorabchian, the British-Iranian businessman who claims that he owns Tevez and has only loaned him.

However, in a statement the West Ham chairman, Eggert Magnusson, said: " Carlos Tevez is a registered West Ham United player, contracted to the club until June 2010. There is no agreement with West Ham United for Carlos Tevez to leave the club and we expect him to return in time for next season's preparations. No decision on his future can be reached without the agreement of West Ham United."

That claim ­ that Tevez is West Ham's player ­ will be disputed by Joorabchian and means the club face either a court battle with the entrepreneur or having to submit themselves to another Premier League disciplinary panel. To complicate matters further, it is unlikely that the panel could meet before the start of the season, with West Ham then facing the very real threat of points being deducted in the next campaign.

A Premier League source said last night that West Ham found themselves " between a rock and a hard place" and may well decide that facing Joorabchian in court ­ with the likelihood that they would lose the case and have to pay substantial compensation on top of the £5.5m fine already imposed upon them by the League's panel ­ is preferable to another inquiry.

The Premier League are adamant they will not sanction Tevez's sale unless West Ham retain "a substantial part" of the transfer fee. By that they mean most of the £35m the champions could end up paying for the Argentine if he stays with them for the next five years. Neither will the Premier League allow West Ham to loan Tevez to United ­ unless they receive the loan fees, which could amount to more than £10m. However that, again, would be contested by Joorabchian.

United had hoped to announce last night that they had signed Tevez in a complicated arrangement which will see the 23-year-old move to Old Trafford on an initial two-year loan with a view to a permanent three-year deal being signed if United take up an option. Tevez will be paid £90,000-a-week by United, taking the overall cost of the deal to £60m.

Joorabchian did last night, though, issue a statement through his solicitor, Graham Shear, which confirmed that personal terms over the sale of Tevez had been agreed with United.

The statement stressed that the discussions had taken place "with the knowledge and permission" of West Ham. It added: "Carlos Tevez's representatives will work during the course of the next week so that a move to Manchester United can be finalised as quickly as possible."

Joorabchian claims that West Ham are not entitled to any of the £60m. He says that when Tevez arrived at Upton Park last summer it was on a one-year loan deal with an option to sign for three more years if West Ham paid a fee of £40m. Furthermore, three weeks' ago he received a letter from Magnusson ­ whose regime was not responsible for the original deal ­ stating that the club would not be taking up that option and, therefore, he could talk to other clubs.

In addition United's solicitor Maurice Watkins was at Premier League headquarters yesterday morning to argue that the organisation did not have the right to say where transfer fees were paid.

There is also puzzlement as to why West Ham did not try to change the terms of Tevez's contract, when Javier Mascherano, who was on a similar deal, left the club for Liverpool in January. There was ample time to do so. At that time, also, the Premier League may have allowed West Ham to cancel Tevez's registration. Now they will block any such attempts.

Instead West Ham found themselves in a position where they had to unilaterally rip up their agreement with Joorabchian on the eve of their vital League match against Wigan in April and deal with the consequences later.

One reason why the Premier League has hardened its own stance is that it says undertakings were given by West Ham on 27 April that Tevez was their player alone. That is why they will not cancel his registration and allow him to move for nothing to Manchester United. Therefore they do not accept that the terms of Tevez's proposed deal are the same as Mascherano's

West Ham's hopes rest on an argument put forward by their QC, Jim Sturman, to the first inquiry that the original agreement with Joorabchian was not legally enforcement. That argument was accepted by Simon Bourne-Arton, the QC and criminal lawyer who chaired the panel which decided that a fine, rather than points deduction, was the punishment West Ham should receive.

That decision was challenged by Sheffield United and although the subsequent arbitration panel confirmed the Blades' relegation it also suggested that West Ham should have been deducted points.