Spurs and Villa weigh up shock Hargreaves move
Both Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa are interested in offering short term deals to out of contract midfielder Owen Hargreaves as the end of the transfer window approaches.
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp wishes to bolster his midfield by the end of this summer window but has been unable to sign any one so far. The deal for Lassana Diarra seems to have fallen through because of the former’s wage demands while Spurs are still haggling with West Ham on a transfer fee for Scott Parker.
Hargreaves has also been approached by West Bromwich Albion and is expected to make a decision soon. The former Bayern Munich star has declared himself fit and capable of playing 40 games a season after seeing his time at Man Utd wrecked by injury problems.
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Curtains for Hargreaves- United will not offer midfielder new contract
Owen Hargreaves’ career at Manchester United is drawing to a close after the Red Devils said that they would not be offering the injury hit medio a new contract. Hargreaves, 30, was signed from Bayern Munich by United in 2007 for £17m, but has only been able to make 39 appearances for the newly crowned Premier League champions over the course of four seasons.
Hargreaves has struggled with a troublesome knee injury and even the best efforts of surgeons across the pond have not been able to resurrect the Canadian born medio’s career.
Hargreaves was one of England’s standout players at the 2006 World Cup where they lost on penalties to Portugal.
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Bayern Munich 3-1 Borussia Dortmund
A brace from striker Miroslav Klose helped Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich to beat arch rivals Borussia Dortmund 3-1 at the Allianz Arena on Sunday evening. The result lifted Bayern above Hamburg and Hertha Berlin, and Jurgen Klinsmann’s team are now just one point behind leaders TSG Hoffenheim.
Bayern were the only team in the top four of the Bundesliga to win this week. Hoffenheim and Hertha drew with Borussia Monchengladbach and Arminia Bielefeld respectively, while Martin Jol’s Hamburg were stunned 3-2 by Karlsruher SC.
Dortmund took the lead in the 2nd minute of the game through Paragayuan forward Nelson Haeldo Valdez, who took advantage of a Martin Demichelis slip to fire past Michael Rensing.
Bayern were stung by the early Dortmund goal, and strove forward in search of an equaliser. They got it in the 24th minute when Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller parried Franck Ribery’s attempt into the path of Ze Roberto, who duly scored from close range.
Dortmund allowed Bayern to dictate possession ( Bayern had a whopping 62% of possession), although Jurgen Klopp’s side did have a couple of chances of their own- both Mohamed Zidan and Florian Kringe were guilty of failing to score from easy positions.
Bayern took the lead in the 87th minute, when Dortmund defender Felipe Santana failed to deal with Mark Van Bommel’s long ball correctly and headed it into the path of Klose, who gleefully fired home.
There was another one to come for Bayern towards the end, and this time Ribery and Klose combined together to signal the end of Dortmund’s chances of taking anything from the game.
Toni Kroos joins Bayer Leverkusen on loan
Bayern Munich midfielder Toni Kroos has joined former Champions League finalists Bayer Leverkusen on loan till the end of the season. Kroos is Leverkusen’s third winter signing after Thomas Zdebel and Gabor Kiraly.
The 19 year old Kroos made his Bayern Munich debut in September 2007. He was sold by Rostock to Bayern in 2006 for €100,000.
Kroos is regarded as the one of the hottest talents in German football, and has been tipped by the legendary Uli Hoeneß as a future number 10.
Kroos is the second Bayern player to go out on loan in January. Reserves player Georg Niedermeier was the first, going to Stuttgart on a one and a half year loan.