Owen Hargreaves started his professional career at German giants Bayern Munich. He spent four years at Bayern Munich - in which he won four German league titles and a European cup medal. Sir Alex Ferguson saw talent in this midfield maestro and therefore went on to sign him for a fee of £17 million pound in 2007. Hargreaves played a big part in United’s team helping them complete the double in his first season there as they won both the Premier League and UEFA Champions League. However on the 22nd May 2011 it would be known that Hargreaves the injury-hit midfielder would not be offered a new contract and would be released by United.
Time at United
Whilst Hargreaves was at United he made only 39 appearances in four seasons for Manchester United, and unfortunately since his knee problems occurred again he only managed to grind out 11 minutes of football for United since 2008. Hargreaves played a pivotal part in United’s heart of midfield as he managed to play a successful sting of performances in the 2007/2008 season. He was also voted England’s player of the year in January after bursting on to the international stage in the build up to the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he was seen as one of England’s best players in Germany before they were knocked out in the quarter finals to the hands of Portugal. SAF found that not offering Hargreaves a new contract a tough task as he knew how hard he had worked in order to get back his fitness, as well as him being such a talented midfielder which United need due to Paul Scholes announcing his retirement after United won a record breaking 19th title which
helped them get one over their local rivals Liverpool. SAF will miss Hargreaves as he is a great box-to-box midfielder who was great at all aspects that a midfielder needs in their game, good vision, great range of passing and also showed his willingness to try new things as he filled in at right back for both club and country. This would of suited United in the Champions league final this year as his destructive talents would of came of use, when once again United were given somewhat of a dizzying ride by Spanish giants Barcelona.
Highlights
Hargreaves’s United career started brightly enough by putting in strong performances in the premier league as well as the champions’ league which showed OT that he wanted to become a major asset for the Red Devils. Hargreaves scored two wonderful free-kicks for United. One being against Fulham, and the other being at OT against close contestants for the PL - Arsenal. This goal to some United fans is seen as one of the greatest moments at OT as United came from behind to win 2-1, which helped them get three really important points to win the race to lift what was their 18th premier league trophy. Also he scored a magnificent penalty in the shootout during the champions league final against Chelsea, with this penalty he shown great confidence as he guided it in to the top corner in order to beat Chelsea keeper Peter Cech, which is a sign of a quality player as he was under a tremendous amount of pressure in the match which United thankfully went on to
win. Hargreaves really stole the hearts of the United faithful, however knee injuries that put him out of action for almost 20 months caused him dearly.
Fans will always remember this special goal.
What Next For Hargreaves?
Owen Hargreaves now unfortunately heads the list of former big money stars who have been somewhat dumped in the Premier League’s dustbin. Among Hargreaves, Patrick Vieira, Jonathan Woodgate and Sol Campbell are amongst the other big named players to be released by their clubs this summer. SAF hopes that Hargreaves can carry on his career elsewhere as he knows most of all his injuries have made Owen's career tough. With the modern game of football offering rewards that are so high, the devastating lows can often be forgotten and Hargreaves is another one of the succession of players who have paid the price with their body. Hargreaves has said recently that he would be willing to take a pay-as-you play contract with the right club. I feel that if Hargreaves was to return to a club it should be to somewhere not in the premier league. Maybe a return to the Bundesliga would suit Hargreaves as simply the pace of the game is much slower and would suit Hargreaves as he is still clearly a great player at the age of 30, and with a slower paced game he could have less chance of being injured again.
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