News:Alex Ferguson may have been denied the fourth double of his 20-year reign when Manchester United lost the FA Cup final to Chelsea but there was better news for the Premiership champions last night when Bayern Munich announced a deal had finally been done to take Owen Hargreaves to Old Trafford.
Hargreaves will sign a four-year contract after the two clubs brought an end to 12 months of tortuous negotiations by agreeing a fee the Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer described as "a little bit over" €25 million. That equates to around €17.5 million and will be viewed as a good piece of business within Old Trafford given that Bayern had initially set the price above €20 million.
The finer points of the deal are still to be thrashed out but Hargreaves has already begun to look for a house in the Manchester area ahead of joining his new team-mates when Ferguson's squad return for pre-season training on July 2nd.
"Owen Hargreaves will go," Beckenbauer told the DFB-Doppelpass programme on German television. "It is the wish of the player. Everything is right for him and it is also financially right for us."
The agreement ends a year-long pursuit for Ferguson, who first tried to sign Hargreaves at the end of the World Cup, a tournament in which the 26-year-old was one of the few England players to distinguish himself. The midfielder made it clear he wanted to move to the Premiership and travelled to Manchester to meet Ferguson for talks. However, the German club refused to allow him to leave in the same season that they had lost Michael Ballack to Chelsea.
An agreement was struck at the time that Hargreaves would be allowed to get his way at the end of the season and Beckenbauer has been true to his word despite the complications agreeing a fee. Bayern, who finished fourth in the Bundesliga and out of the Champions League places, intend to use the money to sign Miroslav Klose from Werder Bremen in what promises to be a period of extensive transfer activity at the Allianz Arena.
The arrival of Hargreaves signals Ferguson's intentions not to allow Chelsea to re-establish themselves as England's best team next season. It may also indicate a variation in the way United currently play. Ferguson likes the idea of Hargreaves taking a defensive midfield role alongside Michael Carrick, with Scholes pushed further forward in what is essentially an attack-minded 4-2-3-1 formation, ideally with Louis Saha as the most advanced striker. Alternatively, Hargreaves can also fit into a more conventional four-man midfield, giving Ferguson a combative presence in an area of the pitch where United were noticeably sub-standard compared to Chelsea at Wembley.
Meanwhile, Liverpool travel to Athens this morning boosted by confirmation that Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have agreed new contracts with the club.
The England midfielder and defender have swiftly pledged the rest of their careers to the Merseysiders with the deals to be formally signed on the team's return from Greece.
- Guardian Service
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