David Gill, Manchester United's chief executive, insists the club is financially sound and not about to go broke, in spite of rumours sparked by the club's failure to restructure their debts of about £660 million, which require annual repayments of a staggering £62m.

The money is still there to finance the £30m signing of Tevez, but it is still far from clear whether the Argentinian's move will go ahead. Much rests on a meeting today between representatives of Fifa, world football's governing body, and the Football Association to try to resolve disputes over the striker's registration. Tevez's advisor, Kia Joorabchian, last week accused West Ham of saying one thing in private and another in public in their stance on the ownership of Tevez, something the Upton Park club strenuously deny.

Andreas Herren, a spokesman for Fifa, confirmed that the meeting would take place and said: "My understanding is that the meeting will be with members of the FA, not the Premier League. It could be that someone from the Premier League comes along as well."

Having had a bid for an unidentified striker turned down during the summer, Ferguson appears to have nowhere to turn if his move for Tevez falls through. He could always inquire about Nicolas Anelka, who may be allowed to leave Bolton to join a club that offers Champions' League football.

Bolton's challenge for a pre-season trophy to set up their first season under Sammy Lee's guidance failed when they were beaten by Kim Kallstrom's late goal for Lyon in the Peace Cup final in South Korea. Jussi Jaaskelainen, Bolton's goalkeeper, made a string of fine saves to keep his side in contention but he let Kallstrom's shot squirm under his body.

Tottenham made a successful start to their trip to South Africa by beating Kaizer Chiefs 2-1 in front of 50,000 in Durban. Dimitar Berbatov scored the winner from Darren Bent's pass after the new Spurs striker's former Charlton teammate, Shaun Bartlett, had equalised Robbie Keane's opener. But the edge was taken off Tottenham's day by an injury in the first five minutes to their new centre-back, Younes Kaboul, who broke a tooth when was caught by Bartlett's boot.

Roy Keane took Sunderland to Scunthorpe, but it proved to be a disappointing first outing for his new signings Michael Chopra and Dickson Etuhu, who finished their debuts on the losing side. Martin Paterson scored the only goal after two minutes.