Owen Hargreaves

  
I first saw Owen Hargreaves playing for Bayern Munich in late 2000. What made me interested in him is he was the only English man in the Bayern Munich team. This was a bit surprising because apart from Steve McManaman who was then at Real Madrid I had not heard of any other English player playing abroad that time.

He started first by making substitutes appearances but as the season progressed he started to gain the confidence of Ottmar Hitzfeld such that by the end of the season he was the first choice central midfielder for Bayern Munich. He started the 2001 Champions League final against Valencia where they won on penalties.

Sven Goran Eriksson seemed not to trust him before the 2002 world cup but when he lost Kieron Dyer to injury Hargreaves got his chance and he impressed although Goran Eriksson continued to use him sparingly until the 2006 world cup where he was the best English player.

Manchester United pounced after the world cup for his signature and the first season he performed well except for his injuries.

Of particular is this game against Arsenal in 2008 . Cristiano Ronaldo was the de facto freekick taker, so when Man United got a freekick on the edge of the penalty area 
everybody expected Ronaldo to take the freekick. Owen Hargreaves stepped up and boy what a beauty. Jens Lehmann had no say,  he just stood rooted on the spot as the ball struck the back of the net.

That was Hargreaves, who was bought from Bayern Munich to replace midfield maestro Roy Keane. In the few games he played he was more than Roy Keane. 

Manchester United were strong in midfield and defence. Case in example is the 2008 Champions League final, where Ferguson realized Wes Brown was the weak link in the defence to counter that he played Hargreaves on the right of defence where he performed superbly. This formation ended up denying Ji Sung Park a place in the team even though Hargreaves was not that match fit.

Too bad for his injuries but those 27 appearances he made for Manchester United will always be remembered. He was a great treasure but injuries curtailed his career.