Hargreaves is NOT one of Manchester United's Worst Ever Signings

Last year, Four Four Two football magazine listed Owen Hargreaves as number 15 in their Top 30 worst Manchester United signings ever.

Whilst Hargreaves career was plagued by injuries in the latter years, I think it’s harsh to brand him as number 15 of Manchester United’s worst ever signings! Let’s take a deeper look…

Hargreaves impressed in Bayern Munich’s Champions league winning campaign in 2000/2001 and was on Manchester United’s radar for some time. After some stellar performances at the 2006 World Cup, Sir Alex Ferguson finally got his man in the summer of 2007 for £17m.

United had struggled to replace Roy Keane with anyone with real fight, heart and someone who could provide the engine in the midfield but Hargreaves hit the ground running. He was combative, tenacious and was a seamless fit alongside Michael Carrick in the midfield. Hargreaves was a work horse, always relentlessly pressing, resulting in him consistently being the player on the pitch who covered the most ground.

The Canadian born midfielder had evolved into an elite player, honing his trade in the presence and influence of Bayern legend Steffen Effenberg and even Lothar Matheus for a short period in the early stages of his career. Hargreaves was always happy to do the dirty work, making countless recoveries and interceptions, allowing the forwards to flourish and that was something Fergie felt he had missed in the heart of the midfield.

Hargreaves was instrumental in Manchester United securing the league title in 2008, playing 39 games in all competitions, scoring 2 goals and providing 2 assists. Hargreaves put in some fantastic performances including a beautiful free kick against Arsenal at Old Trafford in a 2-1 victory.

Hargreaves also played all 120 minutes of the Champions League final win against Chelsea in Moscow (May 2008), scoring a vital penalty in the shootout. Hargreaves first year at United was a roaring success but unfortunately it all went downhill from there.

That summer, post the Champions League triumph, Hargreaves had treatment for an ongoing knee issue which eventually led to a diagnosis of tendinitis requiring major surgery. For the following two and a half years, Hargreaves would be sidelined!

The midfielders big comeback v Wolves in November 2010 was short lived as after just five minutes he tore his hamstring. Yet another setback meant this was unfortunately his last appearance for the club.

Hargreaves controversially went on to criticise the clubs medical department claiming he was “a Guinea pig for a lot of treatments” and said his “injury got worse though injections given to him.”

Hargreaves did go on to do the unforgivable and join rivals Manchester City in 2011 however injuries once again curtailed any run of games. He played just once for City and called time on his career the following year.

Hargreaves was an incredible talent dogged by serious injuries, once describing on BT sport the pain he endured meant “at home I couldn’t go up the stairs as I couldn’t get back down.”

Sir Alex Ferguson spoke about the Hargreaves signing in his book claiming “When I signed him there was something about him I didn’t like. It turned out to be a disaster.” Ferguson also questioned the midfielder’s professionalism but one thing we cannot question is Hargreaves contribution to a title winning season, accompanied by securing the Champions League.

No question, 39 appearances over 4 years is a poor return but at £17m in an era where we made many unsuccessful transfers, Hargreaves is far from United’s 15th worst ever signing. Ironically, Manchester United fans could argue there are likely worse signings than Hargreaves in the current playing squad and the signing of the now departed Jadon Sancho would undoubtedly be a worse contender for the list.

The link to the Four Four Two article can be found here but what’s your thoughts?

Who is a worse signing than Hargreaves?