Hargreaves: Bayern Make United Pay £20 Million…
A Times newspaper report today claims United may pay Bayern Munich more than £20 million for new defensive midfielder Owen Hargreaves.
“Owen Hargreaves, the England midfield player, has signed from Bayern Munich for an initial fee of £16.8 million that could rise to £20.2 million, depending on his success at the club,” the newspaper revealed.
United have yet to confirm or deny the report, which if true, would fuel fears that United overpay when negotiating transfers.
United haggled with Bayern over the past year to release the England international and appear to have surrendered in the face of hard German bargaining and their insistence that national tax demands required a significant transfer fee.
Last April, Bayern President Franz Beckenbauer said: “If it is right that there is an offer of 25-30 million euros for Hargreaves, then I would seriously consider it. I think the board also think this is the way to satisfy the needs of the player.”
Beckenbauer was as good as his word.
Last summer, United agreed to pay Spurs up to £18.6 million for midfielder Michael Carrick, in a similar success-related deal.
Hargreaves will join the United squad for pre-season training on 5 July and will hope to impress on United’s tour of Asia next month after an injury-interrupted season in Bavaria.
“I set lots of targets over the last decade and I have also fulfilled them,” he said earlier this week. “I expect that to continue.
“A new era is starting for me now and I hope to achieve even more. I don’t have any concrete aims, but you have got to win everything at Manchester.”
“I would never have thought that I would move to Germany. I am very happy that FC Bayern gave me such an opportunity. I wish them all the best. The last 10 years were a dream.”
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