Hope begins to fade that Owen Hargreaves will make full recovery

Twenty-eight year old Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves was on the verge of carving out a wonderful career for himself when back at the start of this past season he started to be plagued by a series of knee injuries.

Won

He had just won the Premier League and Champions League double with United having made a total of thirty-four appearances in all competitions in his first season at the club.

Prior to that, Hargreaves had spent seven successful seasons with Bayern Munich, winning four Bundesliga titles and a Champions League, making a total of two hundred and twelve appearances for the club.

Taken off

His England career had finally taken off after he had been a victim of the England ‘boo boys’. He won the fans over with his all action, excellent performances at the 2006 World Cup and had become one of the first names on the team sheet. His forty-two England caps saw him voted England’s player of the year and player of the world cup in 2006.

Unfortunately for Hargreaves, Manchester United and England, he hasn’t played a game since 21st September last year. He played only three games in the whole season. He has suffered from acute tendonitis in both knees and had surgery on his right knee last November and his left knee in January this year.

Terrible

The terrible news revealed by the BBC yesterday was that Owen Hargreaves may be forced to quit top-level football in the next two years if his chronic knee problem persists.

It is believed that following the operations, conducted under the guidance of the American world renowned knee specialist Richard Steadman, Hargreaves is still suffering pain from his knees. Previously confident predictions coming out of Old Trafford that Hargreaves would be back in action at the start of next season are now not so confident.

Confident

The player himself says that he is still confident of a full recovery and although he has set no certain date to return, he is hopeful of starting to train with his team mates in July or August, but the BBC understand that he could be restricted to as little as one training session per week to begin with.

Owen Hargreaves had fully justified his £17million price tag with a series of fine performances for his club, and they will be desperate to get him back. The problem they face is that any minor setback in the player’s rehabilitation could have disastrous consequences for his career and lead, at least, to a further lengthy absence from the game.

Monitored

The BBC reported that the injury he has is such that it can only be monitored on a day to day basis and there is no safe way of increasing the intensity or speed of the recovery.

Hargreaves has completed two years of a four year contract at Old Trafford and he is determined to return to first team action. He will return to the fold when he can play the game without pain. The problem is that at the moment it is not clear if that day will ever arrive. If it doesn’t, then he is unlikely to return at all.

Swelling

The injury he is suffering from is called ‘patellar tendonitis’ and it is a swelling of the tendon that attaches the thigh muscle to the shin bone. It is terribly difficult to cure fully in the normal course of events, but even more of a problem for a top class sportsman.

There are many footballers whose career’s are cut short through injury, but not many who are as high profile as Owen Hargreaves. The Canadian born midfielder has had a fine career so far but has so much more to offer. I just hope that he gets the chance to deliver what he is so obviously capable of as a player.

Let’s all hope that he comes back better and stronger than ever and doesn’t have to bring an end to a great career that could have got so much better.