Michael Carrick and I: Carlos Tevez Should Stay at Manchester United

England and Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick has urged his Argentine teammate at Old Trafford, Carlos Tévez, to stay in Manchester beyond the end of the season.

Despite pressure from the fans and first-team players, United seem reluctant to meet the £30m asking price they will have to pay for the Argentina striker, after his two-year loan deal at Old Trafford expires at the end of this season.

And reports suggest that should Tévez fail to agree a new deal with the Red Devils, a whole host of other clubs around Europe will be vying for his signature, most notably La Liga giants Real Madrid.

The forward has featured less in the 2008/09 campaign than he would've liked due to the arrival of Bulgaria frontman Dimitar Berbatov, and he admitted earlier in the season that he might have to leave Manchester in order to gain his required playing time.

However, United's midfield enforcer Michael Carrick believes his Argentine teammate is a "top player" and has urged him to stay at Old Trafford.

Speaking to English tabloid The Sun, the England ace said: "We want him to stay; Carlos is a top player.

"He has scored some very important goals for us over the last few years."

Carrick went on to say: "We've got a world-class squad, we've got world-class players, and Carlos is one of them.

"We want to keep moving forward as a team and as a squad so we'd like to keep our best players here."

The view that Carlos Tévez should stay at Manchester United is shared by not only the players, but also the millions of fans around the world.

Wherever he goes, Carlos Tévez is fans' favourite, and Manchester United is no exception. From his days at Upton Park, to his current spell at Old Trafford, I've always heard the chant, "There's only one Carlos Tévez."

The vast majority of Manchester United fans worldwide want Carlos Tévez to stay, and Yoosof Farah is no different.

Despite having his playing time limited, Tévez has been an influential figure when he does get on the pitch for United, with his tenacious playing style meaning he quite often is the ball-winner in the team, setting up plenty of opportunities for others.

He's also a decent goalscorer when he does get on the pitch. According to statistics on Wikipedia, he has scored 17 goals in 58 appearances for Manchester United.

Now if Yoosof Farah's mathematics are correct (they must be, as he achieved an A in Maths), that provides a goal ratio of 0.293 per game, or one goal every four games.

Now that's almost equivalent to strike partner Dimitar Berbatov, with the classy Bulgarian scoring eight goals in 27 appearances so far for the Old Trafford club.

Again, if Yoosof Farah's mathematics are correct, that equates to a goal ratio of 0.296 per game, or again, one goal every four games.

Both are equally prolific in front of goal, and both cost around the same amount. So with that in mind, if Berbatov is to stay at Old Trafford, then why shouldn't Tévez?

From a general observation, several United fans should be in agreement with me that Tévez works harder than Berbatov, and creates more opportunities than the Bulgaria frontman.

That in itself is reason enough to show that Tévez adds to United something they don't have in Berbatov.

However if you want more, you could say looking into the long-term, if £30m for each player would get you one goal in every four games from that player, then who would be more value for money, i.e. who would be providing that amount of goals for longer?

Berbatov is 28, whereas Carlos Tévez is 25, so in effect you're getting three more seasons worth of 9-10 goals a season if you spend the £30m on the latter option.

That would technically mean you could be getting 27-30 more goals if you choose to keep Tévez rather than Berbatov.

However, of course it would be foolish to sell Berbatov after having him for only one year into a four-year contract. But what I'm saying is, if you keep Tévez permanently also, you would be getting the same amount of goals, but more goals in the long run, i.e. technically three more seasons worth of goals, which would be 27-30 goals more than Berbatov would provide.

Tévez would also create more opportunities than Berbatov, and so in effect could provide Manchester United with even more goals than Dimitar Berbatov would.

So basically, the main sentiment in this article is that Manchester United are obviously going to keep Dimitar Berbatov for next season, for whom they paid £30m.

If Berbatov has been good enough for his £30m for him to stay at Old Trafford next season, then why is it a big possibility that Carlos Tévez will not be at Old Trafford next season, when for the same amount of money, he can have a much bigger impact than the Bulgarian?

In the words of the true Argentine legend that is Diego Maradona, Carlos Tévez is the "Argentine prophet for the 21st century."

If Sir Alex Ferguson, David Gill, and all the people involved with the transfer business at Old Trafford, use their heads and play their cards right, they could very well end up with the Argentine prophet for Manchester United Football Club.