Owen Hargreaves has opened up on how Sir Alex Ferguson convinced him to move to Manchester United, having been called the legendary manager’s most ‘disappointing’ signing.
Ferguson didn’t get everything right during his long career at United but having won 13 Premier League titles he certainly got more right than wrong.
Ferguson was very honest about Hargreaves. Image: AlamyHargreaves didn’t fulfil his potential at Old Trafford, thanks to a run of injuries, but still did help the team win a Premier League and Champions League double.
Now the 41-year-old has opened up on what Fergie said to him before signing, and revealed the promise of European success persuaded him to leave Bayern Munich.
“I remember [when I arrived] he just said, these fans are very knowledgeable. It was a bit along the lines of ‘you give them your best and they’ll appreciate that,’ the former midfielder told the UTD podcast.
“Before I came, we spoke so much and he was one of the driving forces, one of the reasons why I wanted to come. Who doesn’t want to play under Sir Alex?
Hargreaves did help United win the Champions League. Image: Alamy”He has this authority, a natural authority that everybody respected, which was so important in a dressing room of 25 talented people from all over the world who are well paid. But he controlled the show.
“One of the things he said to me and I’ll never forget it was; ‘Owen we signed you to help us win the Champions League. You can be a part of that’.
“That was one of the big reasons I wanted to come. [I wanted] to be a part of this team, play at this stadium – and with these fans. That group of players we had was just out of this world. You just wanted to be a piece of the puzzle.”
Injuries didn’t help Hargreaves at Old Trafford. Image: AlamyHargreaves crazily only played 39 games for United from 2007, when he joined for £17 million from Bayern Munich, until leaving for free in 2011.
However of those games 34 of them came in his first campaign, with the team ending up as Premier League and Champions League winners.
Of course it was disappointing that Hargreaves made less than 40 appearances but one man who United fans will be glad only made two was William Prunier.
His performance in a 4-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur saw his time at United end rather abruptly and he was also voted as the club’s sixth worst player ever.
