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United confirm hunt for Hargreaves

story.ohargreaves.jpg
Hargreaves was in fine form for England in the midweek international against Greece.

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -- Manchester United hope they can persuade Bayern Munich to sell England midfielder Owen Hargreaves to them, manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday.

"We have been trying to negotiate with Bayern Munich for quite a while and it's at a bit of a deadlock," Ferguson told a news conference.

But Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness said later Friday that he had talked to United chief executive David Gill and told him: "You can offer me 50 million euros for Owen Hargreaves but we will not let him go."

The club's trainer, Felix Magath, said it was high time 25-year-old Hargreaves showed he was committed to his contract, which runs through June 2010.

"He can climb to the top of Mount Everest and say whatever he wants but a contract with Bayern Munich is a contract. Basta! (enough)."

Ferguson remains optimistic about completing a deal, despite the Bayern stance.

"There's no hiding the fact now that the boy has said he would like to join United and we would like to have him.

"How we find the mechanism to get the deal done is in (chief executive) David Gill's capable hands. He is doing his best. Hopefully we can get something done."

Bayern are understandably keen to keep Hargreaves after losing Michael Ballack to English champions Chelsea.

However, Ferguson is optimistic that Hargreaves's desire to play for United and his club's relationship with Bayern will allow the move to go through.

"We were very amenable to them talking to Ruud van Nistelrooy...and we would have preferred him to have gone to Bayern because it may have helped us in the situation with Owen," Ferguson said. The Dutch striker joined Real Madrid.

"It wasn't to be, but the relationship between Bayern and Manchester United has always been good and hopefully we can get something done."

In demand

Hargreaves is in demand after impressive performances for England in the World Cup and a friendly international against Greece at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Ferguson has had his eye on the player, who has spent all of his career in Munich, for a number of years but stepped up his interest after allowing Roy Keane to leave last season and seeing Hargreaves establish himself as a holding midfielder.

"He has matured into that position and his performances for England in the World Cup emphasised that," he said.

Ferguson said he would have liked to have signed a player who would guarantee 20 goals a season to replace van Nistelrooy but added he was not worried about the striking resources at his disposal.

Wayne Rooney will shoulder the greatest responsibility for firing United's title ambitions and Ferguson expressed his surprise and disappointment at the three-match bans handed to Rooney and Paul Scholes following their sendings-off in a pre-season tournament hosted by Ajax in Amsterdam.

United had initially understood from the Football Association that Rooney, who is available for the opening game of the season against Fulham on Sunday, would face no sanction.

"We are all disappointed but we will get on with it," said Ferguson, who made it clear that his team will not be attending the Ajax tournament again.

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