Owen Hargreaves carved out a unique place for himself in the game when he became the first player to be capped by England without ever having lived in the country in 2001.
Another 41 caps would follow as the Canadian born to an English father and Welsh mother developed into one of the best holding midfielders of his generation during an eight-year spell at German side Bayern Munich.
His time in Germany saw him win four Bundesliga titles, three German Cups and the Champions League before he finally moved to England when he signed for Manchester United for £17million in July 2007.
Hargreaves on swapping Bayern Munich for Manchester United
That deal came about after almost a year of negotiations between the two clubs, with Hargreaves keen to play under Sir Alex Ferguson.
“People don’t tend to leave a big club like Bayern of their own accord,” Hargreaves tells FourFourTwo. “Bayern is a great club, a massive club, and if they want a player, they usually keep him, as the possibility of winning trophies is almost guaranteed. But I knew United were interested and, with the team they had at the time and Sir Alex Ferguson in charge, I was keen.
“I knew all of the boys from England – Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney – and I knew they had been talking to Sir Alex about me. They knew that I had the right mindset for United.
“I felt very privileged to swap a club like Bayern for one like Manchester United, with the history those two clubs have. Ferguson didn’t have to say much to convince me. I was honoured he wanted me – I couldn’t say yes quickly enough.”
Hargreaves had missed most of Bayern’s 2006/07 campaign with a broken leg, but enjoyed a fruitful first season at Old Trafford, winning the Champions League.
“It was an unbelievable team, so I would probably have to say yes it was [the best team I’d ever played in], with no disrespect to my Bayern team-mates,” he continues. “It had absolutely everything. The front three of Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez could all score every type of goal and they were a midfielder’s dream, because they worked so hard out of possession.
“Wayne and Carlos, in particular, were like extra ball-winners in the middle – horrible to play against. Cristiano won his Ballon d’Or in 2008 and was the best player on the planet. He was a machine that season. I played a lot alongside Michael Carrick, who just oozed class and was so positionally intelligent, and Paul Scholes, the best passer I ever played with. There was the defence, too, with Rio, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, and Edwin van der Sar in goal.
“The unsung heroes were just as important – John O’Shea, Darren Fletcher and Park Ji-sung. We had loads of fun off the pitch, but Fergie made sure it was strictly business when we stepped onto the field. We knew how to win every kind of game: we could dominate the ball against the smaller teams, hit teams like Arsenal and Barcelona on the counter-attack, and grind out a scrappy win against teams like Chelsea. When things were purring, we could blow opponents away.”
Owen Hargreaves was speaking to FourFourTwo on behalf of TNT Sports
