Hargreaves nears United return

By Joe Radford | 6th March 2010

Hargreaves nears United return | read this item

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Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that long-term injury victim Owen Hargreaves is ready to make his return to competitive football.

The highly rated central midfielder is set to feature in Manchester United’s reserve fixture against bitter local rivals Manchester City on Thursday evening as he looks to step up his rehabilitation and significantly feature in his side’s title run in.

Hargreaves, 29, has not featured since way back in September 2008 due to persistent knee problems. Over the last 18 months, he has had a series of operations in America, and has become a regular at Dr Richard Steadman’s clinic, who has healed global stars from all sports over the years. Hargreaves returned from America in September, and he was widely reported to be only a few months away from fitness, but his recovery has took even longer than expected.

Questions were beginning to be raised about the player’s long term future, after his comeback date was repeatedly pushed back, with some fans wondering if they’d ever see the midfielder in action again. It was reported that he would not feature at all this season, and would have no chance in featuring in the England World Cup squad.

However, Hargreaves will be looking to prove his fitness and push his way into first team contention as Alex Ferguson’s side face a grueling and mouth watering run in to the season, in both the Premiership and the Champions League.

His manager said: “Owen Hargreaves has shown for the first time that he is almost ready to play, he has been training with the first-team, which has been good to see and is penciled in for a game with the reserves on Thursday.”

After news of Michael Owen’s season-ending injury broke earlier this week, Ferguson was encouraged by his £17 million signing showing signs of a comeback, along with highly rated Italian forward Federico Macheda also expected to begin training soon.