Sir Alex Ferguson last night signalled Manchester United’s intent to fight Gabriel Heinze through the courts in an attempt to block his controversial proposed move to Liverpool. United have been appalled by Heinze’s decision to seek help from Liverpool’s solicitors as he looks to secure a transfer to Anfield, but Ferguson is prepared to see the Argentina defender in court.

No senior player has moved directly between the two North West rivals since Phil Chisnall, a journeyman forward, joined Liverpool in 1964, but Heinze has made clear his willingness to do so, not only by mounting a legal challenge against United, but by seeking assistance from the Merseyside club’s solicitor. Richard Green, of the Hill Dickinson firm, has worked extensively with Liverpool and is understood to have advised Heinze and his representatives to enlist Andrew Green, of Blackstone Chambers, to contest his claim.

It is a busy time for United’s resident legal expert, Maurice Watkins, with the club increasingly hopeful that Carlos Tévez will reach an out-of-court settlement with West Ham United that would allow him to move to Manchester. They are confident of a favourable outcome in both cases, but have been astonished by the strength of Heinze’s determination to complete a transfer that seemed unimaginable when news of Liverpool’s interest emerged a month ago.

Heinze’s claim is based on a letter that United sent to his agent, Roberto Rodriguez, at the start of the summer, confirming that he was available for transfer if any club met his £6.8 million valuation, as Liverpool did last week. Rodriguez believes that the letter is effectively a contract, but David Gill, the United chief executive, has claimed it is “meaningless”, having said that the club would not sell any player to Liverpool, or indeed Arsenal or Chelsea.

Ferguson has played down the idea of a dispute with one of his senior players, claiming that the club’s argument is merely with Rodriguez. But as well as demanding that Heinze report for preseason training on August 6, after a three-week break in the wake of his involvement in the Copa America, the United manager last night indicated that he and his club would not hesitate to see the player in court.

Ferguson said. “We’ve instructed him to be in training on August 6. That gives him three weeks’ rest after the Copa America. We’re aware that he’s taking legal advice. I just hope it’s good. We’re confident about our position and we expect him to be back a week on Monday for training. We’re also aware that he’s using Liverpool’s lawyers. That doesn’t concern me. He has either got a case or he hasn’t.”

Whether or not he succeeds in his attempt to join Liverpool, Heinze appears to have no future at Old Trafford. Gill and Ferguson have talked of holding him to his contract, which runs to June 2009, but that is a viewpoint based on defiance rather than practicality. Their hope is that he moves to Spain, where there is interest from Real Madrid and one other club, or Italy, but the situation is complicating the future of Mikaël Silvestre, with Ferguson reluctant to sell two players who can operate at both left back and centre half.

With the arrival of Tévez seemingly a matter of time, another player with little or no future at United is Alan Smith, for whom the club’s preseason tour of Asia, which ended last night with a 3-0 victory over Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, in China, has been a miserable experience. Despite the absence of Louis Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Giuseppe Rossi, the England forward has not started any of United’s four tour matches, with Ferguson urging him to consider a move to Middlesbrough, who had a bid for him accepted in June, or Everton, who are preparing an offer of their own.

Dong Fangzhuo, the young China forward, was preferred to Smith yesterday, although he made little impact before sustaining an injury that rules him out of the rest of pre-season.