Owen Hargreaves struggling to make World Cup finals | Football - Times Online
Owen Hargreaves struggling to make World Cup finals
Fabio Capello’s hopes of having Owen Hargreaves fit for the World Cup finals have suffered another huge blow after Sir Alex Ferguson removed the Manchester United midfield player from his Champions League squad.
Ferguson’s decision raises fresh doubts about the player’s chances of returning to action this season. Hargreaves has been sidelined for the past 16½ months after having operations on both knees to cure chronic tendinitis that has restricted him to 25 starts for United since his projected £20.2 million move from Bayern Munich in July 2007.
Ferguson, the United manager, claimed last week that he hoped to have Hargreaves available for the first leg of his team’s Champions League round-of-16 tie away to AC Milan on Tuesday week.
But the decision to replace him with Ritchie de Laet, a 21-year-old full back who has made only four starts, in the revised 25-man squad submitted to Uefa this week for the Champions League knockout phase is a worrying turn of events for United and England.
Ferguson included Hargreaves in his original 25 for the Champions League group stage in the belief that the player would be back at the start of November, but although Hargreaves had always had last month in mind as a more realistic return date, his failure to make even a reserve-team appearance by now is a cause for concern.
As the only world-class midfield anchorman available to Capello, Hargreaves would bring an added dimension to England’s midfield and give the Italian more options, but the chances of him being ready for South Africa appear to be fading fast.
Ferguson suggested last week that Hargreaves was suffering from a crisis of confidence after so long out. “Owen is alternating his training with the reserve and first-team squads, working for two days and then resting a day,” Ferguson wrote in his programme notes to preview the second leg of United’s Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester City at Old Trafford eight days ago. “It’s a matter of him regaining his confidence and when he is able to train every day, that will be the moment for him to return to match play.”
Hargreaves is contracted to United until June next year, but if he fails to prove his fitness this season, Ferguson may be forced into the transfer market for a defensive midfield player in the summer, a situation the manager hopes to avoid, given that the majority of his transfer budget is likely to be earmarked for at least one more striker, a creative midfield player and another defender, should Nemanja Vidic leave.
Hargreaves’s most recent appearance came in the 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw away to Chelsea in September 2008, since when Dr Richard Steadman, the world renowned knee surgeon, performed two operations and oversaw the player’s rehabilitation in the United States.
Rio Ferdinand’s appeal hearing over the increased ban he received for violent conduct is unlikely to take place before United’s league match away to Aston Villa on Wednesday. The defender was banned for three games for an incident involving Craig Fagan, the Hull City striker, during United’s 4-0 win last month and given an additional one-match suspension after an FA independent regulatory commission ruled that his decision to contest the charge was “frivolous”.
Ryan Giggs, the United midfield player, has said that Wayne Rooney is “getting nearer that group” of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kaká, the players widely acknowledged to be the best in the world.
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Aside from the whole Hargo issue, I find it funny that The Times - who last week claimed Smalling's signing was a step towards Vidic's sale - now says we will bring in another centerhalf IF Vidic leaves.
