Tottenham have defended their signing of former Manchester United defender Zeki Fryers, via Standard Liege. Under FIFA rules, Liege had to pay around £250,000 in compensation to United back in August as the former England youth international was moving abroad.

Had he moved from United directly to White Hart Lane, the fee would have been decided by a tribunal and would have been considerably more.

Fryers, 20, has joined Spurs after just seven appearances for the Belgian club.

But the north Londoners insist they have done nothing wrong. A Spurs spokesman said: "Zeki was out of the contract last summer.

"We had looked into the possibility of signing the player, but were unable to agree a deal on the terms Manchester United were asking.

"Zeki chose to go to Standard Liege, who paid compensation to United.

"However when Liege sacked their manager in November, Zeki was not part of the new manager's plans.

"He become homesick and wanted to return to England.

"His representatives made contact with clubs in England and this afforded us a second opportunity to sign the player.

"As per FIFA's solidarity contribution mechanism, Manchester United will receive five per cent of the transfer fee we have paid."