Eggert Magnússon, the West Ham United chairman, has offered the clearest indication yet that he would like to keep Carlos Tévez at Upton Park if they avoid relegation. The Argentina forward joined effectively as a free agent after leaving Corinthians, the Brazilian club, in the summer, but there is an option to sign him permanently for about £20 million at the end of the season.

Tévez’s enthusiasm has helped to spark the team in recent matches as they battle to avoid losing their Barclays Premiership status. His sports rights are controlled by Kia Joorabchian, the businessman who tried to take control at Upton Park before Magnússon completed his takeover.

Magnússon has said that in future he would not field a player that he does not own, but asked whether he wanted Tévez to stay, he said: “He has been a great success and he’s fighting for our survival, so of course. No question. Of course there’s a chance [he will stay], but it’s not up to me because West Ham don’t own the rights to Tévez.”

The forward has scored three goals in as many matches and Magnússon added: “It’s obvious that it’s taken Tévez quite some time to get properly fit. But now I think he is close to being fully fit and I always said that once he starts to score goals he will score many goals. You need to be lot fitter in the Premier League than you do in South America.”

Regardless of possible relegation, Magnússon is looking into building a new 60,000-seat stadium, part of a wider entertainment complex, on land formerly owned by Parcelforce near West Ham Underground station. “In future you will see the teams who survive in the Premiership have to have a certain size of stadium — and also manage to fill it,” Magnússon told an independent supporters’ web-site.

“You are paying more and more in wages to the players, so it will get more and more difficult for teams who don’t come up to that standard to stay in the Premier League, to maintain their status. I’m sure we could fill that size.

“You have to have a successful team, but when you look at the income at the Emirates Stadium [Arsenal’s new home] compared to Upton Park, there is a huge difference. We are looking at the Emirates wondering what possibilities there are. We’re closer to the City here than them, so there’s a lot of potential.”

Magnússon is keen to maintain ticket prices so as not to alienate lower-income fans, but also offer more corporate hospitality. He will target people working in the City and Docklands, in East London.

“We still need the people that are the core supporters but corporate seating and hospitality makes extra money,” he said. “With the changes that will come with the Olympics [in 2012], this area will change totally in the next ten years.

“One thing that surprised me when I came here was that there was no business plan. Now we have a plan for the next three years. The club was run in an old-fashioned way and now we are trying to change that and run it like a business.”