14 Mar 2009

West Ham agree compensation deal over Tevez affair

11:42 am on 14 March 2009

West Ham United have agreed a $26 million compensation package with Sheffield United to settle the dispute over the Argentinian footballer Carlos Tevez, according to reports in the British media.

United argued that the forward's involvement in a number of games in 2007-07 while in breach of the Premier League's regulations on third-party ownership had been decisive in West Ham staying up while they were relegated.

An independent Football Association arbitration panel, headed by Lord Griffiths, had sided with United against West Ham, ruling that Tevez was instrumental in West Ham's survival.

That panel had been set to meet on Monday to determine a compensation figure, but that hearing has been cancelled in the wake of the agreement.

Griffiths's findings, though, mean that West Ham could still face a points deduction or a fine additional to the $14.6 million they were ordered to pay by the FA's initial panel, which ruled in April 2007.