An emotional Owen Hargreaves is resigned to missing this
summer's World Cup.
With his Manchester United playing career in the balance,
Hargreaves has spoken to the England boss Fabio Capello, who has
decided there is very little, if any, chance of the player making
the trip to South Africa in June.
There are growing fears that, at 29, the midfielder is losing
his battle with tendinitis in his knees that has limited him to 25
starts for United in three years, costing the club nearly £1million
each.
Out of action: Hargreaves has not played a
competitive game in over 500 days
It is 18 months since he last played and, after more than a year
of rehab following operations on both legs, he has reverted from
training with the first team to daily workouts with the club's
physios.
Last month Capello expressed the hope that Hargreaves, a
candidate to fill England's troubled full-back positions as well as
the holding role, would soon be back playing to confirm his fitness
and take up a place in the England squad.
Down and almost out: Owen Hargreaves
But recently the weekly bulletins from United's medical staff to
the Italian have been less encouraging and Hargreaves, who was
voted England player of the year after the last World Cup, has been
left in an increasingly emotional state.
Although Sir Alex Ferguson has not given up hope on him making
what would be a remarkable comeback, the next four days will merely
emphasise what he will miss if his career really is all over.
He is due at Wembley today, to watch his club-mates try to claim
the Carling Cup, and will be staying just miles from the Grove
Hotel, where the England players will gather to prepare for
Wednesday's friendly against Egypt.
With new captain Rio Ferdinand also struggling with a long-term
back injury that has restricted him to just 34 of the past 92 games
for club and country, plus doubts over the fitness of Ashley Cole
and Glen Johnson, and the row between Wayne Bridge and John Terry,
Hargreaves' news is the last thing Capello wanted to hear.
A broken leg and knee problems delayed his move to United after
the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but he crowned his first season in
Manchester by scoring a penalty in the shoot-out victory in the
2008 Champions League final against Chelsea.
However, his knees soon began to fail again and he played only
three more games the following season, his last coming more than
500 days ago, in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
Hargreaves has made just 25 league appearances
since his £18m move in 2007
'I probably shouldn't have played in that game,' said
Hargreaves. 'I struggled to drive my car for three days afterwards.
Something was very wrong.
'The last year has been difficult. As an athlete you think you
are invincible. You don't think something of this magnitude will
happen. I obviously had the problem when I came to Manchester
United from Germany in 2007 and we tried to manage it.
'Part of the problem for me was my competitiveness. I was new to
United and they had spent a lot of time, energy and money in
getting me from Bayern Munich.
'I wanted to do well, obviously. I came with symptoms (of
tendinitis) but everyone said, "Don't worry, it will go", so I
always tried to be available. But playing on it made it worse. I
wanted to play, though, so I played through it.'
Recalling his doctor Richard Steadman's admission that he had
never seen such bad tendons in 35 years of surgery, Hargreaves
added: 'It was a dark day, hard to take because this was coming
from a guy who was 72 years old and had seen a lot of knees.'
Hargreaves returned to United last September and resumed
training but an intended comeback in November was put on ice. Even
as recently as December, Capello held out hope for him. Fully aware
of his valuable versatility, he said: 'He has to play.'