I’m struggling to remember such a turnaround in public perception regarding a player as that of the English footballing fans’ aboutface over Owen Hargreaves. Booed on and off the pitch in pre-tournament games, derided and ridiculed in the press and pubs up and down England before a ball had been kicked and even the odd comment that he wasn’t really English anyway.

Funny how it had taken a complete reversal by the time Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portuguese chums began to celebrate their penalty shootout victory and Owen Hargreaves tears were seen as actually being deserved. Frank Lampard, David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand had no right to cry over the spilt milk they had helped cause. Their ineffective, uninterested outlook on the pitch was in complete contrast to that of the curly haired midfield destroyer so despised by the England faithful and yet it was Hargreaves’ all action performance against Portugal which earned the applause and respect of the nation.

Covering every blade of grass the Bayern Munich man led by example, sadly an example that bigger name, more fancy dan teammates like Lampard and the disappointing Steven Gerrard, couldn’t follow and in a side bereft of ideas, craft or guile, the guts, hard work and determination of the Canadian won the hearts of England fans and stuck two fingers up at the press who had been all too quick to jump on his back before the tournament started.

Now Hargreaves wants a move to the Premiership and there will be a slightly longer queue to pick him up than there would have been back in May or early June.

- Arsenal - If Real Madrid’s new president Ramon Calderon makes good on his promise to buy Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal will be very light in central midfield.

- Manchester United - Manchester United may well have Michael Carrick’s transfer all wrapped up but he doesn’t offer the bite of Hargreaves and a midfield pairing of these two England internationals could be the base they use to challenge Chelsea next year.

- Chelsea - Don’t be surprised to see the Russians leap in if ony to keep the player from signing for one of the two sides above. The spoilers missed out on Didier Zokora who followed his heart rather than his wallet to Spurs and mightn’t want to risk losing another chance to steal a march on their rivals.

- Liverpool - A central midfield of Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso is as good as the Premiership has to offer, no real need barring injury.

- The rest of the Premiership - Everton may sniff, as could West Ham but neither would have the pulling power (or possibly the finances) to snare the Bayern Munich man.

Funny what a difference 120 minutes and tears after scoring in a penalty shootout makes, isn’t it?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 4th, 2006 at 9:34 am and is filed under World Cup 2006. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.