Man United eyes Owen
PA Sport
Manchester United looks to set to agree on a deal to sign Owen Hargreaves after Bayern Munich admitted the England midfielder was leaving it.
Hargreaves appears close to completing a £17million move to the Premiership champions, with the German media reporting he will sign a four-year contract.
Bayern has had a disappointing season, not only failing to defend its Bundesliga title but also missing out on qualification for next season's Champions League, and the club's intentions to make sweeping squad changes during the summer had already been expressed.
But senior director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge made it clear that 26-year-old Hargreaves had been one of the players the Bavarian giants had hoped to keep on board.
Rummenigge told
www.fcbayern.de: "A player like Owen Hargreaves would have looked good in our team next year.
"In the defensive midfield position Owen is one of the best in the world - it's a big sporting loss for us."
Hargreaves, born in Calgary, Canada, has been tracked by United ever since impressing for England at last year's World Cup finals.
Bayern has kept a tight hold on its asset until today when club president Franz Beckenbauer confirmed the player was leaving.
"Owen Hargreaves will go," Beckenbauer told the DFB-Doppelpass programme on German TV. "It's also the wish of the player.