• Manchester City midfielder says injections made
injuries worse
•
Read Daniel Taylor's interview with
Owen Hargreaves
Owen Hargreaves
has claimed Manchester United
put his career on the line by administering the wrong
treatment for his chronic injury problems and making a series of
mistakes that left him fearing he may never play football
again.
Speaking for the first time about his "guinea pig" treatment at
Old Trafford, Hargreaves claimed the club's medical staff decided
he needed a course of injections for his knee injury. There is no
evidence whatsoever that Hargreaves was misdiagnosed or improperly
treated, but the midfielder believes the treatment led to his
condition deteriorating, leaving him barely able to walk and with a
knee that felt "like I was made out of glass".
He claims various specialists had subsequently told him United
had prescribed the wrong treatment, adding that his injury "got
significantly worse through the injections". A knee specialist
later diagnosed an extreme form of tendinitis that led to major
surgery and put him out of the game for effectively three
years.
"I've had to be a guinea pig for a lot of these treatments,"
said Hargreaves. "But when you're left to try to make something of
a difficult situation, it's not really an option to say: 'Let's sit
it out and rest for six months.'"
Hargreaves, now of Manchester City, talked of being put
"in a shit position" before making the remarkable claim that the
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson selected him for his comeback
match against Wolverhampton Wanderers last November even though the
midfielder had told the club he was injured.
"I started that game with two muscle injuries but I should never
have been in that position to begin with. I was just going to try
to get through 45 minutes because that would have been a start. But
I didn't even last five. I wasn't surprised. I'd said to them that
I had a hamstring problem, which I obviously did. I said: 'I think
I've got a bit of a problem here.' I was surprised it didn't go in
the warm-up, to be completely honest.
"People at times must look at it from a distance and say: 'Shit,
he's made out of glass.' But I don't know many people in the world
who could do any sporting event with two muscle tears."
Hargreaves said he felt so unfit he knew he could not even run
at full pace. "There were 70,000 people there and, if I had walked
away from the game, it would have looked like I didn't want to
play. I thought: 'I'll try to play, I just won't sprint.' I know it
sounds comical."
United are aware of the allegations but have declined to
comment. Ferguson will be asked for his response when he holds his
weekly press conference at the Carrington training ground on
Friday.
Hargreaves made his City debut in their 2-0 defeat of Birmingham
City in the Carling Cup on Wednesday, scoring the opening goal. The
30-year-old believes he can play 40
times this season but feels the deterioration in his
knees can be directly linked to the course of injections. "I came
back a week early for pre-season to get it done. They said I would
be fit for the start of pre-season but, after that, I never got
back on my feet. My tendon was never the same. They said my tendon
was good, but it felt like I was made out of glass."
Asked if he felt United had mishandled the situation, he
replied: "You'd have to ask them. There were a few crucial points.
We treated it and it got significantly worse through the
injections. That obviously had a huge impact. Basically, I was left
to pick up the pieces, which was incredibly frustrating.
"They said it [the injections] would help and that I wouldn't
have any side effects. That obviously wasn't the case and if I'd
known I could have had a reaction like that I wouldn't have done
it. It was a shit position to be in, to be honest. 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. My knee, my tendon, was never the same."
United eventually decided not to renew his contract when it
expired at the end of last season and, after 39 appearances in four
years at the club, Hargreaves moved to City on a free transfer in
August.
The midfielder said "a change of scenery, sadly enough, was
essential" for his rehabilitation. He added: "The guys here [City's
medical staff] have been great so far. I've been here three weeks
and you can already see the difference. I knew it was all there. It
was just a matter of doing things right."
