Why Does Sir Alex Want Owen Hargreaves so Much? …
Twenty million pounds used to buy a hotshot striker of undoubted world class. It could also ensure the arrival of a dynamic and creative midfielder with a good goal ratio, a couple of useful wingers with speed to burn or even three old school defenders.
Now, £20 m is the purchase price for a top drawer but decidedly unspectacular defensive midfielder with a “good engine,” an alert football brain but one who will rarely trouble the goals registrar.
Owen Hargreaves is one such player but, to the disappointment of Sir Alex, he might only be allowed to leave for Manchester next summer.
“We’ll go in pursuit of our targets - retaining the league championship and performing well in the Champions League - with the squad we have at the moment,” said Bayern coach Felix Magath.
United may well go back to the Bavarians with an improved offer, such is Sir Alex’s belief in the player. But that still leaves open the question: Why does the manager want Owen Hargreaves so much?
Hargreaves is an able player, who was one of the few English stars to emerge from the World Cup with his reputation enhanced. Hargreaves is very much the modern footballer, quietly effective, with a range of skills. His versatility will not have gone unnoticed too. Nor will his experience at FC Hollywood, as Bayern are dubbed, do him any harm in the Old Trafford hot house. Moreover, Hargreaves’ European experience makes him one of the few Englishmen to enjoy a long career abroad.
But talent, versatility and European savvy alone do not convince wholly as the reasons why Sir Alex should go to such lengths and in so public a manner to capture this epitome of the unsung hero. After all, this is not a player in the mould of Ruud van Nistelrooy, who for example, was courted assiduously when suffering a serious leg injury, because of his goal-scoring pedigree.
Other reasons for the transfer surely exist. One school of thought is that Sir Alex is planning to restructure the side so as to extend the career of Paul Scholes. The 4-4-2 formation is a blood rite at Old Trafford and the manager has been loudly jeered whenever he has forsaken that basic contract with the fans, most recently at Arsenal.
Yet, it is clear that the manager wants Hargreaves not to replace one of his existing midfielders but to complement them. Paul Scholes, the schemer supreme with thunder in his boots, has made himself automatic again this season, to the point that he is a strong contender for player of the year. Popular opinion has it that United play when Scholes is at his best. He makes United tick and even at 32, when at the top of his game, he gives United’s play a dimension which few teams can match.
Certainly, Thierry Henry is a fan. “He’s incredible,” Henry said. “He’s come back into the team after his eye injury and he’s playing so well, like he’s never been away. He has always been under-rated throughout his career. He’s a team player, a one and two-touch footballer who makes good decisions on the pitch and makes his team play.
“I don’t understand why he has never won the player of the year. A guy like that should have won it long ago.”
Michael Carrick was on everyone’s lips as the player most under pressure if Hargreaves arrived. That looks unlikely now, especially after his performance against Arsenal and the praise it earned from the manager.”I thought we had the best player on the pitch in Michael Carrick,” Ferguson said. “He was magnificent.”
With £18 m Carrick lauded by the manager and the commentariat alike, it is unlikely that Sir Alex would spend a further £20m of Malcolm Glazer’s money on a new bench squatter. That means Hargreaves, Carrick and Scholes are almost certain to line up alongside each other as a midfield trio. This would allow Scholes to maximise his attacking potential by playing higher up the pitch in support of the team’s attacking trident whilst saving his energy. Carrick would provide the midfield cunning from a slightly deeper position whilst Hargreaves would provide the lung power and the defensive snapping.
The mere idea of such a formation would provoke uproar until it proved it could entertain and win. The new midfield strength would free Ronaldo of any lingering ideas of tracking back or fulfilling defensive duties and might render permanent Rooney’s toil on the flank, leaving the centre forward role to a fast and alert attacker able to lead the line alone.
The manager’s thinking is influenced perhaps, not only by the advancing years of Scholes but also by an inability to unearth anyone offering the versatility, speed , goals and intelligence of Ryan Giggs, who is fast approaching the end of his career in the top flight as a natural left-sided winger / midfielder. Park Ji Sung, by contrast, offers industry and an all to rare appreciation of where the goal is.
It is to be hoped that Hargreaves and Carrick, both aged 26, are on the cusp of their best years, leaving Sir Alex with the option of returning to 4-4-2 should time catch up with Scholes or his form burst prove short-lived.
It is worth remembering that Sir Alex last rejigged his side to accommodate the declining but still influential Roy Keane. That experiment dragged on for three years. Fans might have to get used to the 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 formation, as it looks set to become a standard team shape for some time to come. AU
© Copyright: Absolutely United 2007
