Manchester United chief executive David Gill is confident the Premier League will heed some valuable lessons over the shambolic Carlos Tevez saga.
The Argentina striker should finally make his Red Devils debut at Portsmouth on Wednesday night after a protracted wrangle over registration and ownership rights which was headed for the High Court until Tevez's 'adviser' Kia Joorabchian offered to pay West Ham £2million in compensation for a player they never actually owned.
Tevez has now signed a two-year deal, with a reported £10million fee being payable to Joorabchian, with Manchester United retaining an option to buy the 23-year-old outright once the contract reaches its conclusion.
Relegated Sheffield United, the direct casualties of Tevez's superb form for the Hammers at the end of last season, are still consulting their lawyers over the whole sorry mess, which has cast a stain over Richard Scudamore's time as Premier League chief executive.
But Gill feels sure the situation that unfolded over the past 12 months will not be allowed to happen again.
"You always learn from your experiences," said Gill.
"Richard Scudamore is a bright chap. I am sure he will pick up the rights and wrongs of this particular affair.
"While the football authorities allow third-party ownership, we have to deal with it and we will deal with it appropriately and in accordance with the rules.
"It is a feature of the game and I am sure, out of this situation, things will be learned and issues will be."
Having first made their interest known at the beginning of the summer, it has taken a maddeningly long time for the Red Devils to get their man.
Premier League rules forbid third-party ownership because of the potential for influence over its competition, yet the practice is commonplace in other parts of the world, particularly South America.
As one of the game's leading administrators, Gill indicated clubs must be allowed to work within the reality of ownership rules that are currently in operation globally.
But he accepted it would be helpful for everyone concerned if FIFA were to intervene.
"The third-party ownership issue needs clarifying, which needs FIFA to do something on," he said.
"We have to deal with reality. We want to secure the services of a player, under terms we believe are appropriate and acceptable for a period that we want, and, in the nicest possible sense, we control the player during that period.
"It was a difficult situation but there were a lot of other issues surrounding it which, in my opinion, made it more complicated than it needed to be."
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