Why Owen Hargreaves is no United traitor for turning out in City blue

By David McDonnell

Published 11:22 06/09/11

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Owen Hargreaves came in for predictable stick from some Manchester United fans when their former midfielder took the decision to move across the city to join their neighbours and title rivals.

Hargreaves was portrayed as a disloyal figure, a player who had administered the ultimate slap in the face to United by moving to Manchester City, after his fomer club had stood by him after he lost three years of his career to injury.

To read some of the negative comments towards Hargreaves from United fans on social networking sites such as Twitter, you'd think the guy had trashed the Old Trafford trophy cabinet and then mooned at Sir Bobby Charlton, just for good measure.

Such a perception of the former United star's perceived disloyalty is as short-sighted as it is erroneous, for the simple truth is that Hargreaves owed his old club nothing once they decided to release him at the end of last season when his contract expired.

Hargreaves was so desperate to prove he was not finished as a player he offered to play for United for free, a remarkable act of selflessness that provided conclusive proof of the 30-year-old's determination not to be consigned to football's scrap heap.

The reality is that Hargreaves, fine player that he was, did not have the same affinity and loyalty to United as players like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes or Gary Neville, one-club men who would never have entertained the prospect of joining City, whatever the circumstances.

Moreover, Hargreaves effectively ceased to be a United player long before he was released by them, his Old Trafford career essentially over last season when he suffered yet another setback which made it clear he was never going to make it back.

And despite helping United to a Premier League and Champions league double in his debut season, it is worth noting Hargreaves played 39 games in his four years at Old Trafford, the same number as Eric Djemb-Djemba.

Such a meagre appearances total hardly marks Hargreaves - like Djemba-Djemba - out as a player of great standing in United's history, despite the former England international's successful first campaign at the club.

For those United fans unhappy with Hargreaves for joining City, their ire should be directed not at him but at the medical staff who failed to pick up the knee problem he has since admitted he was carrying when he made his £17million move from Bayern Munich in 2007.

"I got through the medical at United but now I realise the problem was probably developing quite rapidly," said Hargreaves.

'When I join United I'm not going to let it bother me. I'm the new guy, there are high expectations, I want to play. The niggle is there. But I just lived with the discomfort."

It is only fair to point out that not every United fan has felt the need to castigate Hargreaves for his latest career move, many acknowledging his right to a new start once Sir Alex Ferguson and his staff decided not to keep him.

A fresh start, and the chance to resurrect a career which was sabotaged by injury is the least Hargreaves deserves after the problems he has endured over the past few years - even if he is wearing the blue of City.

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Read David McDonnell's weekly Manchester United column exclusively on MirrorFootball every Tuesday

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