West Ham and Sheffield United's courtroom battle over the legitimacy of Carlos Tevez playing for the Hammers in 2006/07 will be decided before Christmas. High Court Judge Nigel Teare will reserve judgment for several weeks before deciding whether to grant the Blades a permanent injunction preventing West Ham taking an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.
Sheffield United are claiming up to £50million in compensation after the arbitration panel ruled that Tevez should not have been permitted to play in the final matches of the 2006-07 season, when the Argentina striker helped West Ham avoid relegation.
West Ham had argued that they had already been punished by the Premier League - they were fined £5.5million - and were merely following league instructions.