Sunderland's hopes of landing Celtic midfielder Colin Healy before Saturday's Division One opener against Nottingham Forest are being threatened by a wrangle over compensation.
The 23-year-old Republic of Ireland international passed a medical last night and has agreed personal terms with the Black Cats.
However, the Scottish Premier League side believe they are due compensation for the player, whose contract at Parkhead expired at the end of last season, while the Wearsiders are confident they can sign him for free.
Such are Sunderland's cash problems that any order to pay for Healy could scupper the move."We have been in talks with Colin Healy and his agent to agree personal terms and he has passed a medical," a club spokesman said today.
"The situation now is that we are waiting for his agent to confirm that he is free to move to Sunderland on a Bosman and that there will be no compensation due to Celtic.
"Celtic have referred his agent to the International Football League Board agreement, which governs moves between English, Irish and Scottish Leagues under which they say compensation is still payable for a player aged 23 years and under.
"FIFA regulations state that no compensation is payable once a player has reached 23 years.
As there is a disparity between the two sets of rules, and as Colin is aged 23, we need this to be clarified before we can proceed any further."
A collapse of the deal would come as a blow to manager Mick McCarthy, who has been trailing the player almost since the day he took over at the Stadium of Light.
Relegation has meant a major re-think on Wearside with debts totalling around stg£38million severely restricting the manager in his rebuilding work.
However, things have now started to move with Bernt Haas, Gavin McCann and Jody Craddock having left the club and the Black Cats having agreed fees for the sale of Thomas Sorensen and Kevin Phillips.
Southampton yesterday agreed to pay stg£3million for Phillips, although wages - his Sunderland contract amounts to around stg£30,000 a week - could yet prove a problem, and that may alert other suitors.
In addition, Sorensen's proposed stg£2.25million move to Aston Villa has stalled over a stg£500,000 loyalty payment which the Dane believes he is owed, something his current employers contest.
Sunderland have themselves asked for a tribunal to settle the level of compensation for French midfielder David Bellion, who finally completed his switch to Manchester United earlier this summer.
McCarthy has had to bide his time during a difficult summer, but has been able to add midfielder Jeff Whitley and defender Gary Breen to his squad this week.