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發表於 2006-8-18 13:19:54
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Hargreaves on brink of sealing £17m United deal
By Oliver Kay
ON his way out of Old Trafford on Wednesday evening, Owen Hargreaves advised autograph-hunters to “wait and see” whether he would soon be returning to join Manchester United, but the waiting is almost over for the England midfield player after Bayern Munich were poised last night to sanction his departure for a fee of £17 million.
A meeting has been scheduled between officials from the two clubs in Munich on Sunday, but it emerged last night that an agreement was imminent. That meeting may still be needed to determine the structure of the fee, but there appears little doubt that the deal will proceed, given that Hargreaves has approved the terms of the five-year contract on offer.
United initially hoped that the fee for Hargreaves would be closer to £13 million, having signed Michael Carrick from Tottenham Hotspur for a projected £18 million fee, but Sir Alex Ferguson is confident that the two England players can transform his team’s midfield.
As a result, the United manager is preparing to drop the bid to sign Marcos Senna from Villarreal, with the 30-year-old’s agent, Elí Coimbra, saying that his client will stay in Spain unless the Barclays Premiership club revive the £4 million deal by noon today.
Hargreaves, having made clear his desire to join United in an interview with a German magazine on Wednesday, was more coy as he left Old Trafford clutching the man-of-the-match award after England’s 4-0 victory over Greece, but his agent, Roman Grill, left little doubt yesterday about the 25-year-old’s intentions.
“It’s not a question of whether the club [Bayern] want to discuss a transfer,” Grill said. “It’s obvious they need players like Owen and they don’t want him to leave, but on the other hand the player wants to talk. He wants to tell the club how he sees his future.”
In fact, Hargreaves informed the club of his desire to join United a week ago, having been alerted to Ferguson’s interest while on holiday in Canada after the World Cup finals. Uli Höness, the Bayern general manager, said on Wednesday that Hargreaves’s departure was “not a subject for discussion”, but it is clear that, contrary to that defiant stance, discussions are so well advanced that an agreement is expected within days.
For Hargreaves, the move is an opportunity to cement his growing reputation in England, as well as his place in the national team under Steve McClaren, but for Senna, the latest developments at Old Trafford have come as a blow. Ferguson confirmed his interest in Senna while negotiations with Villarreal were taking place a fortnight ago, but since then there have been no signs of encouragement from United, who postponed the deal as they explored other options, such as Hargreaves and Mahamadou Diarra, the Lyons midfield player, who is expected to join Real Madrid.
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