London, Oct 21 : Argentine forward Carlos Tevez is determined to show Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson that he should be Wayne Rooney's long-term partner.

Tevez has been left in the wings while new signing Dimitar Berbatov has taken centre-stage with Rooney, The Sun reported.

Having failed to start in five of the last six games, and with no permanent deal done for his services, there are also long-term doubts about Tevez's whole future with Manchester United.

But the Argentine forward is determined to prove against Celtic at Old Trafford just why they should get that 30million pound deal done and why he should be in the starting line-up every week.

"I knew when I came here there would be really tough competition for places, given that United already had Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne and Nani. But Alex always had total belief in me and told me so," Tevez said.

"There was all this nonsense about how myself and Wayne couldn't play together but we showed everyone. We have a perfect, intuitive understanding on the pitch, plus we get on brilliantly as pals. Give Wayne half a metre of space and he'll pull out a brilliant goal. Wayne does amazing things, even when he has next to no space."

"As soon as I played with him, I copied his movement and explosiveness away from defenders, as there is far less time or space when you play for United than I've ever experienced," he added.

Rooney and Tevez hit 37 goals between them during last season. This season, though, Tevez has only one, while Rooney is up and running with eight in his last six games for club and country.

ANI