West Ham United are alleged to have entered into agreements behind the back of the Premier League to ensure that Carlos Tévez could play in the final three matches of last season. Kia Joorabchian, the player’s representative, makes the accusation in his multimillion-pound compensation claim against the club in documents lodged at the High Court.

Joorabchian is claiming payments of £4.5 million and £2.6 million, which he asserts should have been made by January 31. The sums relate to the transfer of Tévez, the Argentina forward who helped to rescue West Ham from relegation last season to the Coca-Cola Championship after arriving from Corinthians, in Brazil.

Joorabchian makes three main allegations. He claims that West Ham asked him to act as a broker between them and the two companies that owned the player’s economic rights, to ensure that Tévez played against Bolton Wanderers in the penultimate match of last season at a time when the Premier League had asked the club to terminate the third-party agreement. The two companies, Media Sports Investments (MSI) and Just Sports Inc (JSI), had refused to cancel the contract and did not want Tévez to play because of fears that he could be injured and it was not clear who would pay any insuranc costs.

Joorabchian also alleges that Tévez received a salary and expenses that exceeded that paid to him by West Ham. He does not state who paid the money, but if it was a third party it would be a breach of Premier League rules. West Ham claim that they are unaware of such payments.

In addition, Joorabchian claims that he paid £2 million to West Ham for the club to release Tévez’s registration, so that he could join Manchester United in August, and he alleges that West Ham agreed to return the money, with legal costs, amounting to £2.6 million. This would be contrary to the club’s acknowledgment to the Premier League that they would be the beneficiary of the fee.

If the allegations are proved to be true, West Ham could have been acting against undertakings given to the League. West Ham have said that they would mount a “vigorous defence” and deny the allegations.

Joorabchian has said that the first verbal agreement was struck at Les Ambassadeurs, a casino in Central London. He met Eggert Magnússon, the former chairman, and Scott Duxbury, the present chief executive, on April 27, the day that West Ham were fined £5.5 million for breaching League rules in the transfer of Tévez. There were three matches left.

Joorabchian claims that a week later the club agreed to pay £4.7 million — later reduced to £4.5 million — to cover costs, the player’s salary, expenses and a loan fee. He said that in return he would obtain permission from MSI and JSI for Tévez to play.

“Magnússon and Duxbury regarded it as a matter of great importance that Tévez was available to play,” the documents said. They added: “It was not committed to writing because of Magnússon and Duxbury’s unwillingness to do so in the light of the positions between WHU [West Ham] and FAPL [Premier League]. Magnússon and Duxbury assured Joorabchian that their agreement to pay these sums was binding.”

Joorabchian alleges that there was a second verbal agreement to ensure that Tévez could move to Old Trafford. He said that the League wanted West Ham to receive at least £2 million for Tévez to allow the transfer to go through, and the organisation wanted to see evidence of that having been paid. Joorabchian said that MSI and JSI were unwilling to pay the money, so he agreed to foot the cost, but that the club agreed to return it by January 31, 2008.

Joorabchian has separately claimed that he has tape recordings, texts and witnesses to support his claims.