Manchester United player profile - Owen Hargreaves

Owen Hargreaves, the Manchester United and England midfielder was born on 20 January 1981 in Calgary, Canada. Born to English parents, Owen Hargreaves was raised in Canada and began his football career playing for the Calgary Foothills before moving to Germany where he joined Bayern Munich as a 16 year old. Owen Hargreaves initially played for the German team's under 19's and amateur sides until making his Bundesliga debut as an 83rd minute substitute on 12 August 2000. He had to wait another month before making the Bayern Munich starting line-up in a match against SpVgg Unterhaching, in the meantime Owen Hargreaves made his England debut in the U21 squad to play Georgia at the end of August 2000. At the time he was called up to the U21 England squad by Howard Wilkinson Owen Hargreaves was eligible to play for Canada or any of the 4 home nations sides. The first (00/01) season with the Bayern Munich senior side proved very succesful for Owen Hargreaves as they triumphed in both the Bundesliga and the UEFA Champions League.

Owen Hargreaves first full international match came on 15 August 2001 against the Netherlands when he became the first player who has never lived in England to play for the country. In his next (01/02) season with Bayern Munich Owen Hargreaves became a regular first team player and at the end of it was selected for the England squad that travelled to the South Korea/Japan 2002 Fifa World Cup finals. His World Cup campaign was curtailed by injury which came after just fifteen minutes of England's second group game against Argentina. The following (02/03) season brought more medals for Owen Hargreaves as Bayern Munich won both the Bundesliga and the DFB Cup, it also brought another milestone on 26 January 2003 with his first Bundesliga goal in a match against Borussia Mönchengladbach. There was no silverware for Owen Hargreaves and Bayern Munich at the end of the 03/04 season however Owen Hargreaves was called up to his first European Championships as part of the England squad that travelled to Portugal for� Euro 2004.

Owen Hargreaves was once again part of the Bayern Munich sides which won the Bundesliga and DFB Cup in both the 04/05 and 05/06 seasons and was then out for most of the 06/07 season due to a broken leg. Then on 31 May 2007 it was finally announced that Owen Hargreaves would join Manchester United on 1 July 2007, after almost a year of negotiations, for a fee of around £17 million. Owen Hargreaves' Manchester United debut came in a friendly against Peterborough United on 4 August 2007 and his first Premier League appearance was in a derby match away to Manchester City. Some months later on 1 March 2008 Owen Hargreaves scored his first Premier league goal for Manchester United against Fulham. Owen Hargreaves' first season with Manchester United was a huge success as the Red Devils won the Premier League and UEFA Champions League.