During the summer of 2007, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson splashed out 17 million pounds and signed long term target Owen Hargreaves from German giants Munich. The Enland International was delighted to join United and said that his desire to move to the NorthWest was probably the worst-kept secret in football. Hargreaves however played just half the games of the season--spending most of his campaign in the hospital room giving company to Loius Saha. His tendinitis problem had been bothering him whilst at and kept on recurring month after month at United. He would probably have had a century of caps for England if he was as fit as David Beckham.
Despite his injuries, Owen did play a vital part in Sir Alex's search for the Holy Grail that was another European triumph. The times he played, United were lifted. He scored his first goal for the club--a free-kick against Fulham and then went on to score one of the most important goals of our season--another stunning free-kick that sent Arsenal down the drain and kept us well above Chelsea. United fell into an injury crisis toward the end of last season but Hargo came in and ably deputised in the right-back slot. Interestingly, he had his best game for United whilst playing at right-back in a 1-0 home victory over AS Roma in the Champions League.
He was also part of the heroic starting 11 that won United their third European crown.
This season however has not been any different for Hargoas he has made just three appearances. His persistent knee injury is beginning to frustrate the fans and surprisingly the journalists. It was only last week that we heard reports sugesting that Fergie wanted to get rid of the Englishman--lazy journalism for me!
This week Hspecialistwill visit a specilaist in the USA to try and solve his knee problem.
My take on this one is--we should give him a chance. I mean if Fergie can be as patient as he was with Louis Saha then why not for Owen? He is one of those players who plays with a passion for the club and he has that priceless experience about him as he has played at the very highest level. I trust that Sir Alex will not let go of a player if he still sees value in him so I'm hoping that Hargo makes a return that will silece all his critics for good!
