Manchester United’s recent success this season is due to Erik ten Hag's diligence in the transfer market, buying players he has either previously coached (Lisandro Martinez and Antony) or signing already established stars such as Casemiro.
Of course, money has been spent to improve the quality of the squad and with a League Cup trophy secured, along with the chance to win more titles this term, his era has begun in promising fashion.
The Dutchman could finally be the manager to follow on from Sir Alex Ferguson and lead the club into a new trophy-laden era, while replicating the Scot’s success in the transfer market.
It wasn’t all excellent signing after excellent signing at United under Fergie, especially in his final decade, with big money spent on a few players who couldn’t live up to expectations, with Owen Hargreaves being one such player.
Was Owen Hargreaves a success at Manchester United?
The Canadian-born midfielder joined the Old Trafford side in the summer of 2007 for a fee of £17m from Bayern Munich, and it was looked upon as a smart investment, especially considering how successful he had been in Germany.
He made over 200 appearances for the Bundesliga giants, winning a Champions League winners medal and four league titles. The midfielder had also starred for England at the 2006 World Cup, and it looked as though Fergie had secured another wonderful signing for United.
His first season was certainly promising as he featured 34 times across all competitions as United retained their Premier League title and won the Champions League – Hargreaves second success in the competition.
That was to be as good as it got for the player however, with knee injuries plaguing the rest of his career as he missed a total of 134 matches over the next three seasons and despite a couple of attempted comebacks, where he broke down each time, his United career was effectively over.
All in all, he played just 39 times for the club before leaving on a free transfer in the summer of 2011 and he eventually joined Manchester City on a one-year contract.
Fergie described Hargreaves as “one of the most disappointing signings of my career” due to his injury troubles and lack of playing time across his final three seasons.
It’s clear Fergie had a nightmare on Hargreaves despite his initial solid impression, and it was a colossal waste of money across the course of his four-year contract.
