Manchester United must keep "world-class" players like Carlos Tevez to stay at the summit of world football, according to Michael Carrick.

The Argentina striker expressed his dissatisfaction with life at Old Trafford earlier this week, bemoaning the fact that he has often been left out of the starting XI in big games this season.

Dimitar Berbatov's arrival last summer has pushed Tevez down the pecking order – to the dismay of some United fans – and the former West Ham frontman claims he has "many offers" to go elsewhere.

But midfielder Carrick, for one, hopes he stays to fight for his place. "We want him to stay, Carlos is a top player," Carrick said. "He has scored some very important goals for us over the last few years."

"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.

"But it's down to the manager. I'm sure he knows the best way to make sure we do keep progressing."