15 Worst Ever Man Utd Premier League Signings

14. Owen Hargreaves

Oh, Owen Hargreaves. What a tragic tale. There's no doubt about it, Hargreaves was by far the best English (by way of Canada and Germany) ball-winning midfielder of his generation and of recent memory. He had energy levels that were rarely seen in an England player, he was brave, was an excellent reader of the game, and he was also technically gifted. It's just saddening that from 2006 onwards, Hargreaves' career was dogged by injuries. Despite being chastised by the English media and fans when selected in Sven-Goran Eriksson's England team at either full-back or on the wing, the confident Hargreaves would regularly state that he was worthy of a place in the team and that his actual best position was in the middle of the park. This is a player who had won countless trophies at Bayern Munich, after all. His problem seemed to be the infamous Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard partnership that, quite frankly, never really clicked for England. When Hargreaves got his chance to play in central midfield, he wowed, being voted England's best player (by far) at the 2006 World Cup. He would then break his leg for FC Bayern, though, and would arguably never be the same player again. Well, that's wrong - he would put in the same performance levels again, just on a far less frequent basis. United paid £17 million to take Hargreaves to Old Trafford in 2007 and he would put in some brilliant performances for the Red Devils and make a huge contribution to the team when he was on the pitch. The only problem was, in all competitions his United career would only see him make a heartbreaking 39 appearances over 4 seasons (34 of which came in his first season) before his contract was allowed to run out in 2011. Alex Ferguson has even gone on record to describe the all-action Hargreaves as one of his most disappointing signings. Hargreaves would then sign for rivals Manchester City, scoring on his debut and raising the hopes of many that his fitness worries were behind him. But they weren't, and he'd only make 4 appearances for City before being released and eventually retiring to the world of punditry.
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.