Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has slammed Sir Alex Ferguson’s claim that he was not offered a new contract at Manchester United because he was planning to retire within four years.

Tevez quit Manchester United to sign for bitter rivals City in a controversial transfer in 2009 and Ferguson insisted during United’s current tour of America that the move was allowed to go through only because the Argentine told him he didn’t plan to stay in the game for long.

Ferguson said: “He told us at the time of negotiations that he was only going to play for four more years, so if we had signed him on a five-year contract knowing that he was going to quit in four years’ time, there is no re-sale value for us.”

The United manager’s comments have led to renewed speculation that Tevez may decide to retire rather than return to Manchester City if he doesn’t get his wish to leave Eastlands.

Tevez wants a transfer after growing unhappy following his family’s failure to settle in Manchester and their subsequent return to Argentina.

The 27-year-old has already seen a potential move to Brazilian club Corinthians come to nothing and few clubs seem willing to meet his huge wage demands.

However, Tevez has distanced himself from Ferguson’s claims and his spokesman suggested he will continue his career for another eight years.

“At no time did he discuss retiring with the Manchester United management and Mr Ferguson has not mentioned this at any time before,” a spokesman for Tevez said.

“In fact, Carlos feels he is capable of playing for a further eight years and though he has been in the form of his life, he feels he is only going to get better in the coming years.”