Sports / Soccer
Man United close to signing Hargreaves
(Ticker)
Updated: 2007-05-21 08:30
Manchester United appears to be closing in on a deal to sign Owen
Hargreaves after Bayern Munich admitted the English midfielder was
leaving them.
Hargreaves looks set to complete the move to the Premiership champions,
with the German media reporting he will sign a four-year contract.
Bayern has had a disappointing season, not only failing to defend its
Bundesliga title but also missing out on qualification for next season's
Champions League. The club's intentions to make sweeping squad changes
during the summer had already been expressed.
But senior director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge made it clear that 26-year-old
Hargreaves had been one of the players the Bavarian giants had hoped to
keep on board.
"A player like Owen Hargreaves would have looked good in our team next
year," Rumenigge told www-fcbayern.de "In the defensive midfield
position, Owen is one of the best in the world - it's a big sporting loss
for us."
Born in Calgary, Hargreaves has been tracked by United ever since
impressing for England at last year's World Cup.
Bayern kept a tight hold on its asset until Sunday when club president
Franz Beckenbauer confirmed the player was leaving.
"Owen Hargreaves will go," Beckenbauer told the DFB-Doppelpass programme
on German TV. "It's also the wish of the player. "Everything is right and
it is also financially right."
The midfielder represented hometown club Calgary Foothills FC from
1994-97 and had been contracted to Bayern until 2010. His breakthrough
year was 2001 when he starred on the Bayern team that won the Champions
League, the Intercontinental Cup and the Bundesliga.
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