West Ham's David Sullivan: Sam Allardyce is wrong - Enner Valencia deal didn't break rules

West Ham joint-chairman David Sullivan has denied claims by former England manager Sam Allardyce that Enner Valencia's 2014 move to the Hammers involved third-party ownership.

Allardyce yesterday had his contract with the FA mutually terminated following an undercover investigation by The Telegraph, which showed the 61-year-old appearing to tell reporters posing as businessmen how to get around transfer laws.

During the newspaper sting, Allardyce was filmed claiming that when he signed Valencia from Mexican side Pachuca as West Ham manager two years ago, the winger was "third-party owned", which was banned by the FA in 2008 and by Fifa last year.

But speaking about the allegation, West Ham joint-chairman Sullivan insisted Allardyce was wrong as he did not know about the full financial details of Valencia's move to England.

He told The Sun: "Valencia’s economic rights were wholly owned by Pachuca when we bought him.

"Sam is wrong. But he didn’t know much about the actual transfer deal other than wanting the player.

"We have not broken any rules on third party ownership."

Valencia is currently spending the season on loan at Everton.

The Hammers were handed a £5.5million fine in 2007 after Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano's move to West Ham were found to have involved third-party ownership.