A delegation led by West Ham chairman Eggert Magnusson met a team led by United lawyer Maurice Watkins at the Premier League’s offices in London.

A West Ham spokesman told PA Sport: “Meetings have taken place between the two clubs but no agreement has been reached in relation to Carlos Tevez.”

One club cannot give a player a medical unless his current club agrees and West Ham will not give formal permission for a medical until they have received an offer and accepted it.

West Ham remain adamant that they hold Tevez’s registration, that he is contracted to them for another three years and that they have unilaterally terminated all third-party agreements with Tevez’s representative Kia Joorabchian.

Joorabchian maintains that his company Media Sports Investments (MSI) own the economic rights to the player, and that they have already agreed personal terms with Manchester United.

United are understood to have agreed an initial loan deal for Tevez with a view to a permanent transfer, a similar deal to that which took Javier Mascherano from West Ham to Liverpool in January.

That hit a stumbling block, however, because in January, West Ham cancelled Mascherano’s registration. The Premier League are not allowing the club to do the same procedure with Tevez on the basis that such a move would indicate the original agreements with Joorabchian were still binding despite assurances to the contrary.

The Argentina striker last week submitted a written request to West Ham asking to be released from his contract but the Hammers stuck to the Premier League’s advice and refused to do so.

The League have made it clear they expect a significant chunk of any transfer fee to remain with West Ham rather than be passed on to Joorabchian as compensation for breaching the contracts he had with the club.

United chief executive David Gill, who is in the Far East on the club’s pre-season tour, insisted on Monday a medical would take place this week but said the deal had become “over-complicated”.

Gill said: “Effectively, we are trying to work with four parties – the player, West Ham, the company who own Carlos’ economic rights and the Premier League - in order to sort it out.

“The process is ongoing. The player will have a medical at some point this week, then we will take it from there.

“We still have to sort out the paperwork but we are confident that can be achieved in the course of the next week or so.”