Owen Hargreaves's Biography
Owen Hargreaves was born on 20th January, 1981 in Calgary, Canada, however he became a footballer who was capped for England.
His father, Colin Hargreaves, played for the youth team at Bolton, however, Owen Hargreaves himself had never played for a club in England - a first for an England international - until in 2007, the BBC reported that Manchester United had bought him from Bayern Munich.
Manchester United's purchase of Owen Hargreaves meant that he joined them from Bayern Munich on 1 July 2007.
In October 1996, Owen Hargreaves's coach Thomas Niedorf got him some trials in Germany and he was snapped up by Bayern Munich in the summer of 1997.
It was three years before Owen Hargreaves made his debut for the first team in the 2000-01 season.
With Bayern Munich, Owen Hargreaves has won the Bundesliga title several times and the Champions League.
As an international, Owen Hargreaves could have played for Canada, Wales (his mother is Welsh), or even Germany if he had waited longer before making his decision, but in 2001 he made his English debut.
Owen Hargreaves was selected for the 2002 World Cup but was injured in the second group game and missed the rest of the tournament. Sven Goran Erikkson also selected him for the Euro 2004 and 2006 World Cup squads despite heavy criticism from the press and the fans.
However, Owen Hargreaves performed very well in the latter and was voted England's Player of the 2006 World Cup by the fans.
Owen Hargreaves wrote a column for BBC Sport.
Since September 2008, Owen Hargreaves was dogged by injury and had operations on both knees to cure tendinitis.
On 6 November 2010, Owen Hargreaves returned to football after his long lay-off since September 2008, but lasted less than six minutes when he limped off in Manchester United's game against Wolves.
In April 2011, when he was asked whether Owen Hargreaves would play for Manchester United before the end of the season, Sir Alex Ferguson replied:
"It is a shoulder injury. It has just brought his season to an end. He has just carried bad luck all the time he has been here. I am pretty sure he won't be playing this season. His contract is up at the end of the season but I don't know what is going to happen. David Gill had a discussion with the boy last week. But no more than that. We have to make a decision."
On 31 August 2011, Hargreaves was signed by Manchester City on a one-year deal, having been released by Manchester United.
After one season, Owen Hargreaves was released by Manchester City, having played only 13 minutes of Premier League football. Hargreaves had been on a pay-as-you-play contract.
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