20 January 2024 , 09:00
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Owen Hargreaves has forged a successful career for himself in the punditry scene, but was once an incredibly talented midfielder playing for some of Europe's biggest clubs.
Between 2000 and 2007, Hargreaves made more than 140 appearances for German giants Bayern Munich before eventually making the move to Manchester United. It was a transfer that drastically underwhelmed, with the ex-England international going down as a rare flop signing during Sir Alex Ferguson's illustrious Old Trafford reign.
United can be forgiven for taking a chance on Hargreaves. After all, the midfielder had won four Bundesliga titles and the Champions League during his time in Germany, while also putting in a number of stellar displays for the Three Lions while on international duty.
However, to say there weren't any doubts would be disingenuous. Ferguson harboured concerns over Hargreaves' injury record during his time at Bayern and those fears would soon be realised once the midfielder actually arrived in Manchester.
Writing in his autobiography, Ferguson explained: "I look back less fondly on our move for Owen Hargreaves, who was phenomenal in the summer of 2006 and was just the type of player we needed to fill the gap left by [Roy] Keane.
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"We started to put together a bid for him. But I studied his playing record and felt a tinge of doubt. I didn't feel a strong vibe about him. David Gill worked hard on the deal with Bayern.
"I met Owen's agent at the World Cup final in Berlin. Nice man, a lawyer. I told him we could develop Hargreaves at United. It turned out to be a disaster. Owen had no confidence in himself whatsoever. He didn't show nearly enough determination to overcome his physical difficulties, for my liking.
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Owen Hargreaves was dubbed the most disappointing transfer of Sir Alex Ferguson's Man Utd reign by the man himself"I saw him opt for the easy choice too often in terms of training. He was one of the most disappointing signings of my career."
Hargreaves was actually forced to listen to Ferguson's thoughts live on television when the extract was read to him by presenter Jake Humphrey. The former Bayern star replied: "A lot of people rung me this week very surprised by what he said, myself included, I think he said a lot of things in there that were with emotion and he was very disappointed obviously with the way things turned out."
Nowadays, Hargreaves is most often seen on punditry duty with TNT Sports covering both Champions League and Europa League contests. The Canadian-born ex-United ace also regularly features on American broadcaster CNN as a football analyst.