Hargreaves: It's so sad I didn't play a bigger role for United but this is a new chapter

Owen Hargreaves no doubt has many memories he treasures from his career. Four Bundesliga titles, two Champions League triumphs and 42 England caps.

November 6, 2010, is, however, a day he would perhaps prefer to forget. That was a day that ended in tears in the Old Trafford dressing room.

A comeback for Manchester United had ended with a damaged hamstring after four minutes of a game at home to Wolves. What made it worse is that Hargreaves knew it was about to happen.

‘I started that game with two muscle injuries,’ he recalled. ‘I should have never been in that position to start with, but it was difficult. I wanted to play, they [United] wanted me to play.

Bad times: Owen Hargreaves leaves the Old Trafford pitch following the Wolves debacle

‘There were 70,000 people there and if I had walked away from the game it would look like I didn’t want to play. I thought, “I’ll try and play, I just won’t sprint”.

‘It’s not ideal. People at times must look at it from a distance and say, “S***, he’s made out of glass”. But I don’t know many people who could do any sporting event with two muscle tears. You’ve got to do things step by step.’

The idea of a professional footballer of Hargreaves’ experience starting a Barclays Premier League game in such an uncertain physical condition is remarkable. That such a thing should happen at a club like Manchester United is staggering.

It begs the question why on earth — after a two-year struggle with knee injuries — did Hargreaves agree to play when he didn’t even have the confidence his body would enable him to sprint? 

‘I said, “I think I’ve got a bit of a muscle problem here”, Hargreaves recalls. ‘I was surprised it didn’t go in the warm-up, to be honest. I wasn’t going to sprint, which sounds comical. I was just going to try and get through 45 minutes because that would have been a start.

‘But I didn’t even last five. I wasn’t surprised because I’d said to them that I had a hamstring problem, which I obviously did have.’

Painful memories: Hargreaves played against Wolves well aware that he was not able to sprint

Having signed for United for £17million in the summer of 2007, Hargreaves struggled with injuries from the start.

By the time of that Wolves game, he had already endured two years of knee trouble, something he now attributes — at least in part — to United’s use of prolotherapy injections.

However, United’s pursuit of him had been long and public and it would appear Hargreaves played games when perhaps he shouldn’t have from the start. For this, he is perhaps culpable, at least in part.

‘I wanted to play,’ he said. ‘I was new and it’s hard to come in and say I don’t want to play. We had big games and [Fabio] Capello wanted me to play in big England games. I just wanted to make myself available.

‘I’m not a guy who wants to bitch and complain. I was trying to make the most of it, but it deteriorated over the season and we had to do these injections. After that my knee, my tendon, was never the same.’

Hargreaves made his competitive comeback on Wednesday, ironically for United’s rivals Manchester City. The record books show he scored after 17 minutes and played for just less than an hour against Birmingham.

Good times: Hargreaves celebrates his goal against Birmingham

Speaking afterwards — with the adrenaline no doubt still pumping — Hargreaves was perhaps more frank than he would perhaps have wished to be.

United did not comment on the matter yesterday. It will be interesting to see if their manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, responds at his Friday press call this morning.

Hargreaves claims to feel no bitterness. He stressed he feels no ill will towards Ferguson and his staff. There is no evidence Hargreaves’s injury was misdiagnosed. There is no evidence of malpractice.

Nevertheless, his response was telling when he was asked directly whether United were to blame for bringing his career to as close to extinction as it is possible to come without actually retiring.

‘You’d have to ask them [United],’ he said. ‘There were a few crucial points at times.’

Hargreaves’ progress since he joined City on August 31 has astonished those who have worked with him.

Having trained with the first-team squad for more than a fortnight ahead of this week’s debut, he has not required the attendance of a physio once.

Positive start: Hargreaves has surprised many at Manchester City with his fitness levels, and the midfielder says he is enjoying working with Roberto Mancini

It would not be right to make judgments here on how Hargreaves was handled at United. Nevertheless, it would appear he is happier with the manner in which he has been treated by Roberto Mancini and his medical team.

‘The guys here have been great so far. I’ve been here three weeks and you can see the difference in me moving,’ he said.

‘I knew it was all there. I’ve been here only three weeks and this was my second game [including a practice match] in six days.

‘Obviously, a change of scenery, sadly enough, was essential for me. You’ve just got to chip away day by day and put the work in.

‘It’s great to be in a game again because I trained so much on my own I got an allergy to being around people.

‘We’re just going to have to manage it. It’s big surgery I’ve had. We’re just going to have to be smart. It’s going to be a natural progression.’

England ambition: Hargreaves is treated at the 2006 World Cup - but the midfielder has targeted a return to the national side

Hargreaves will not play in City’s home Premier League game against Everton on Saturday. In fact, he is unlikely to be seen again until after the October 8 international break.

He knows people have a certain image of him now. Many will be waiting for him to break down again.

‘If anybody had all the facts of the last three years and some of the things which have gone on, they might understand why I have had these problems,’ he said. ‘I don’t think people would believe me, to be honest.

‘United are one of the biggest clubs in the world. They have a lot of wonderful people there. I’m sad for myself that I wasn’t able to play a bigger part there. I really envisaged it going differently.

‘But this is a new chapter in my life. They’ve moved on and they’ve got a wonderful group of players. I’m happy for them.’

Whether that feeling is reciprocated when Hargreaves’ words are digested at Old Trafford is another matter.