Alex Ferguson says Carlos Tevez is not worth the £25m Manchester City paid

Sir Alex Ferguson tonight said the reason Carlos Tevez was no longer at Old Trafford was that the striker was not worth the £25m fee his adviser, Kia Joorabchian, had been demanding. The split between the Argentina striker and his former manager has been bitter, with Tevez accusing Ferguson and the club of refusing to speak to him about extending his two-year loan, which expired last month.

"We made contact with Carlos," Ferguson retorted. "We sent him texts and spoke to him when he was in Argentina. Our chief executive, David Gill, made an offer to Kia Joorabchian and we spoke to Tevez before we played Inter Milan [in March] and told him we had spoken to Kia but we never heard back.

"In my opinion, I don't think he was worth £25m. He was popular with the supporters. The fans quite rightly have their heroes and I was happy to go along with the deal as long as it was the right one but, quite simply, he is not worth £25m."

That Tevez has gone from the world champions to a side that finished ninth in the Premier League is, say sources at United, proof that money is the main motivating force for those players who have joined Manchester City. However despite an outlay of £200m under the manager, Mark Hughes, Ferguson doubts City will achieve their aim of breaking into the Champions League positions.

"Well, you just name their best team and then ask where it would go and you would have to say that they would struggle to get into the top four. It is understandable they should go for John Terry, given the money they have got. They have made their intentions known, so if I were in City's shoes with all that money, I would have a go at doing that myself. He has the experience and he is captain of England."