United cleared to sign Pogba

Paul Pogba is to become a Manchester United player after Fifa approved his transfer to the Premier League champions.

The teenager has been caught up in a battle between United and Le Havre, after the French club claimed the English made an illegal approach for the player.

Le Havre president Jean-Pierre Louvel was, at one stage, so vitriolic in his condemnation of United the Old Trafford side threatened him with legal action.

Last night a judge appointed by Fifa upheld United's claim that Pogba could not have been offered financial inducements to break a contract, because he didn't have one.

"Manchester United is pleased to confirm that the Football Association has been authorised by Fifa to register Paul Pogba as a Manchester United player with immediate effect," said a statement released by the club last night.

Le Havre insisted inducements were offered to Pogba's parents but United manager Alex Ferguson said that has has never been club policy.

In fact, the argument never even got that far as the judge decided Pogba was still an amateur because he had never received anything beyond normal expenses to play for the club.

And, because of his age, Le Havre could not have got an agreement for him to sign a professional contract anyway.

In delivering his judgment, the judge wholly accepted Manchester United's argument as to why international transfer clearance should be issued immediately, dismissing all Le Havre's submissions.

Meanwhile, former Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards has expressed concern about the debt accrued by the club under the Glazer family.

Edwards resigned as chairman in 2002 but remains an honorary life president at the club, a non-executive role.

"It concerns me that the club are in so much debt," he said. "The club are not in control; that family are in control of the debt."

Malcolm Glazer completed his takeover in 2005 amid much anger from supporters' groups, leaving the club with debts in the region of €756million.

"I can understand where the fans are coming from with their concerns," said Edwards. "The crunch time will come when they [the Glazers] exit. Will they saddle the club with the debt or just sell the club on for a profit because that's all they are interested in? How will they leave the club?

"I'm not going to make any accusations because up to now they have behaved fairly well, supporting the manager, and they haven't disrupted the running of the club or the personnel. Time will tell."

Edwards recommended a takeover bid from BSkyB, worth €673million, when he was at the Old Trafford helm.

"I thought Sky would have taken Manchester United to a level where nobody could have got near us," he said in a new book by Andy Mitten, Glory, Glory! Man United in the 1990s.

"That's why I recommended their offer in 1998. When they approached us, we had gone 30 years without winning the European Cup.

"I felt that they could have pushed us on to the next level."