Sir Alex Ferguson is confident Carlos Tevez will eventually end up at Manchester United.

Tevez is currently at the centre of a major transfer wrangle with present club West Ham and the Premier League refusing to sanction a move to Old Trafford even though terms have been agreed with the player's agent Kia Joorabchian.

The Premier League is anxious the Hammers should be the main financial beneficiaries of any move having only authorised the player to participate in the final three games of last season on the understanding that the contract with Joorabchian had been ripped up.

Joorabchian, however, is adamant that Tevez remains his property and any financial windfall should come to him.

United legal expert Maurice Watkins has been left to find a solution to the impasse, with the Old Trafford club anxious to push through a deal quickly, but Ferguson is certain the 23-year-old former Corinthians star will finally join his squad.

"I am sure the outcome will be that we will be taking him," said the United boss. "I thought it was going to be done by last weekend. Everything seemed perfectly okay, so the hold-up must be with the Premier League."

"We are in negotiations, which has been well documented," he said, speaking at a press conference to unveil new signings Owen Hargreaves and Nani.

"Maurice Watkins has been working on it for a month, maybe more, to make sure the deal is perfectly clear and there are no side issues.

"To be honest I thought it would have all been sorted by the weekend just gone. It must be the Premier League that is holding it up.

"From what David [Gill] and Maurice said everything was ready to go. Unless something's being held back from us, I don't know of anything that's holding it up.

"The essential parts of the deal are all agreed, hopefully it will be finalised soon."

It remains unclear as to whether the deal will be a loan move or permanent. United have already spent a combined £34m on Portugal's Nani and Brazil's Anderson, and another £17m on England midfielder Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich.

An outright bid for Tevez would have to be in the region of at least £20m.