11/5: Latest News
Times: Manchester United’s nine-month pursuit of Owen Hargreaves is finally approaching a successful conclusion, with the Barclays Premiership champions close to striking a deal in the region of £18 million with Bayern Munich for the England midfield player.
Fears were expressed by United officials this week that Bayern’s demand for £21 million may prove prohibitive, but negotiations are understood to have progressed well over the past few days. The clubs hope to reach an agreement that will allow Hargreaves to sign after the end of the Bundesliga campaign a week tomorrow, with a view to completing the transfer on July 1.
Personal terms will not be a problem, with Hargreaves having already approved the offer put to him through a third party last summer, so the only stumbling block is over the structure of the deal, with United keen for a portion of the transfer fee to be based on future achievements, as they have done in deals to sign Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick in recent years.
Hargreaves is envisaged as the first of at least three new signings by Sir Alex Ferguson this summer. The United manager is also keen to sign a new centre forward. Samuel Eto’o, of Barcelona, has emerged as an ambitious leading target, along with Dimitar Berbatov, of Tottenham Hotspur, but in both cases United would almost certainly be required to break their £30 million record outlay.
Fernando Torres, the young captain of Atlético Madrid, may be available for a smaller fee than last summer, when he was a target, but he is no longer thought to be a top priority, leaving Michael Owen as an intriguing possibility should Ferguson be willing to trigger a £9 million release clause in the player’s contract with Newcastle United.
Ferguson is also eager to rejuvenate his squad by signing a left winger as a long-term replacement for Ryan Giggs, whom the manager prefers to use in a more central position these days. Nani, a highly-rated youngster at Sporting Lisbon, is a candidate, but United’s interest in the 20-year-old may not be as strong as it had been. Carlos Queiroz, Ferguson’s assistant, told a Portuguese newspaper Nani is “not a short-term priority” and that no talks have taken place with Sporting.
A similar rationale applies to Gareth Bale, Southampton’s young left back, and, while either he or Nani could move to Old Trafford this summer, Ferguson is understood to be reluctant to commit himself to spending a large portion of his budget on two unproven players. Youthful reinforcements are already lined up with the return of several players from loan deals. Ben Foster is expected to challenge Edwin van der Sar for the goalkeeper’s jersey after his spell at Watford and Gerard Piqué, the young Spanish defender, has also been assured he will be in the first-team squad – most probably at the expense of Mikaël Silvestre – after impressing during a season with Real Zaragoza.
Players such as Foster and Pique will be eager to stake their claims on United’s preseason tour of Asia, but the four-match trip is becoming problematic. The club have been told they are “not welcome” to visit Kuala Lumpur for the final match of the tour against a Malaysia XI on July 26 because of a clash with the Asian Cup, being held in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam from July 7 to 29.
United remain hopeful the visit to Malaysia can proceed as planned, but are wary of attracting adverse publicity in a “good-will” visit. The organiser, Pro-Events, maintains the visit will go ahead and is trying to obtain permission from the FA of Malaysia, emphasising the importance of United’s “platinum” partnership with Tourism Malaysia. David Gill, the United chief executive, has said he is “sad and disappointed” by the controversy, adding: “Malaysia is our second home. We are proud to come and celebrate Malaysia’s 50 years of independence and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime celebration.”
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Mail: The murky facts emerging from the controversy surrounding Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard’s absence from the Manchester United match, following a gentlemen’s agreement between the two clubs, have now enveloped David Gill.
When Howard’s move to Goodison was made permanent, the United chief executive and FA board member had wanted to break the Premier League rules on transfers by including a clause barring his ex-goalkeeper from playing against United if they were chasing the title.
It was only Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore who ensured the clause was removed and that United kept within the rules, following 10 days of fraught talks with Gill on the issue.
However, the Premier League were well aware of the agreement between United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Everton’s David Moyes to leave Howard out.
United want to move on from the incident while Everton cannot understand the fuss because Moyes was talking openly about his ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ with Fergie a week before the game.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, who had the most to lose from United’s victory at Everton, has made no complaint, despite stand-in goalkeeper Iain Turner gifting United a goal.
Ironically, Mourinho, when manager of Porto, benefited from a similar error by Howard when the Portuguese team beat United in the Champions League three years ago.
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Mail: Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of champions Manchester United, took his team for a day out at Chester races yesterday but it was a Tote girl who received the famous hairdryer treatment rather than one of his players.
Major gambler Fergie was adamant he had wagered £1,000 to win at Tote odds of 2-5 on favourite Maraahel in the first race, but was paid out only £700 after the horse had won by a head, leaving the great man furious with the Tote cashier.
But the Tote limit for a single bet accepted within a hospitality suite is £500.
Fergie later found his other winning ticket and he made sure he apologised to the girl concerned.
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Man. Utd.Com: Assistant Manager Carlos Queiroz is confident that next week’s FA Cup Final against Chelsea will be an entirely different game to Wednesday night’s Premiership draw between the sides.
Both Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho fielded weakened teams at Stamford Bridge, taking advantage of a rare inconsequential game, with relatively bland results.
“I think the FA Cup Final will be a different game, for sure,” Queiroz told BBC Sport. “It will be much more competitive, much more tense, the emotion will be higher.”
However, the Portuguese claims that United’s coaching staff learned some valuable pointers about counteracting Chelsea’s system during the stalemate.
“I think we can take a couple of interesting lessons after the game,” he said. “The system that Chelsea usually play and the way we controlled those movements, together with the organisation and attitude of our players.
“Everything counts at the end. We showed a great attitude and great confidence. The players came here to show and explain why we’re champions this season.
“We proved after 90 minutes that even with some players who are not regularly in the team, we competed from the first minute until the last.”
