Ferguson's efforts to lure Tevez to Manchester United have ground to a halt amid a deluge of legal arguments over who owns the player's registration.

With the Premier League sticking to its position that West Ham own the player after they tore up the third-party agreement with Tevez's adviser Kia Joorabchian, Tevez's camp have now asked for football's world governing body Fifa to settle the matter.

Ferguson said: "I am confident Carlos Tevez will sign and I am happy to wait until clearance comes along.

"If it became obvious that the situation wasn't going to turn our way we would have to reconsider our plans. But I have nothing as a fallback position at this moment in time."

United remain totally convinced that Fifa will eventually rule in Joorabchian's favour, an outcome which would cause the Premier League huge embarrassment.

Such a decision would leave Ferguson having to decide whether to keep Alan Smith and Giuseppe Rossi at United or enter the transfer market again.