Hargreaves could figure this season - Ferguson
05 Feb 2010 - 11:18:03
Manager Sir Alex Ferguson insists Owen Hargreaves will eventually return even though he has been forced to leave the £18million midfielder out of Manchester United's Champions League squad.Hargreaves has not played for United since September 2008, when he finally decided to undergo revolutionary knee surgery in America to try to cure a chronic tendinitis problem that dates back to his time at Bayern Munich.The 29-year-old eventually returned to United's Carrington training base 12 months later after undergoing an extensive rehabilitation programme under the guidance of world renowned knee specialist Dr Richard Steadman.At the time, it was thought Hargreaves would be back by November to help United's quest for honours and push for a place in Fabio Capello's England World Cup squad. But that deadline was missed and so have others Ferguson subsequently put in place.Knowing there was no chance of Hargreaves being fit for the Champions League knock-out round clash with AC Milan later this month, Ferguson opted to leave the player out of his 25-man squad, which had to be submitted to UEFA by the end of last month.Yet Ferguson insists the bad news need not necessarily prove terminal and that Hargreaves could still play a major role this season. He said: "Owen's recovery is slow. It is a year and a half now and I can't put a time on it. But he will be back. He could come back and make an impact on the league for us. Hopefully he does."