"He (Tevez) should be here next season, I certainly hope so," manager Alex Ferguson told reporters.
"I think he genuinely wants to stay and that's something we are trying to work towards. I've told him that repeatedly and there's not much more I can do."
Media reports from Tevez's homeland this week suggested the player was unhappy at being left out by the Premier League leaders for some important games and may find a new team for next season.
"Of course we are vulnerable because he is on loan, no question about that," added Ferguson. "That is our weakness."
However, the manager said Tevez had been given a key role at United and hoped the forward acknowledged the part he had played in their success.
"We are where we are, six games left in the Premier League and at least two games in the Champions League. Hopefully at the end of the season he'll realise he has made a big contribution," said Ferguson.
"That is what we say to all the players. When you deal with the squad I have got, and they are all internationals, at the end of the season if we have won something they should all feel they have made a contribution to that success."
Champions United are three points clear at the top of the table and have six matches remaining, including a game in hand on second-placed Liverpool.
LEAGUE CUP
They have also won the League Cup, with Tevez playing from the start against Tottenham Hotspur in the final at Wembley, and face Arsenal next week in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Tevez has played 24 of 32 Premier League games, including eight as substitute, but did not start against Inter Milan or Porto in the Champions League although he came off the bench to score against the Portuguese in the quarter-final first leg at Old Trafford.
"Whether the games he has played are important games or not is a different question but he has played in quite a few big games," said Ferguson.
"I don't want him to be unhappy because he is an important player for us.
"The difficulty is when you've got the options I've got. I bought another striker in (Dimitar) Berbatov, as well as having the option of playing (Cristiano) Ronaldo as a striker.
"You create problems for yourself because all good players want to play in every game but they can't play in every game in this league, it's impossible."
Tevez is hugely popular with United fans, a minority of whom jeered Berbatov in the midweek home league win over Portsmouth, and his work rate has not gone unnoticed by Ferguson.
"He does give fantastic effort," said the manager. "That is one of his best qualities.
"He is a tiger, he fights for every ball, he holds it up well, he is a handful to play against, we know that, but I go back to the point he has played more minutes than any of the other players up front and I think if he looked at that he would think differently."
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