Owen Hargreaves claims that, during his injury-plagued time at Manchester United, he was given treatments which may well have done him more harm than good.
Hargreaves had been out of action for the best part of three years through injury and was released by the Red Devils at the end of last season.
The 30-year-old then joined cross-town rivals Manchester City on deadline day in August before making his return to football this week, scoring in their 2-0 Carling Cup victory over Birmingham City.
"I've had to be a guinea pig for a lot of these treatments," Hargreaves told reporters.
"But when you're left to try to make something of a difficult situation, it's not really an option to say: 'Let's sit it out and rest for six months.'
"All the people there (at United) are lovely. Everybody tries their best but, at times, you come to a certain point when you need to make a decision.
"They said it (the injections) would help and that I wouldn't have any side effects. That obviously wasn't the case and if I'd known I could have had a reaction like that I wouldn't have done it.
"It was a sh*t position to be in, to be honest. I was trying to make the most of it, but it deteriorated over the season and we had to do these injections. My knee, my tendon, was never the same."
Hargreaves' last appearance for United was against Wolverhampton Wanderers last November, a game he lasted just six minutes before the combative midfielder had to withdraw with a hamstring problem.
He added: "I started that game with two muscle injuries but I should never have been in that position to begin with.
"I was just going to try to get through 45 minutes because that would have been a start. But I didn't even last five.
"I wasn't surprised. I'd said to them that I had a hamstring problem, which I obviously did. I said: 'I think I've got a bit of a problem here.' I was surprised it didn't go in the warm-up, to be completely honest."
Hargreaves' comments are bound to add fuel to the flames of what is already a bitter relationship between the Manchester clubs.
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| Owen Hargreaves believes his career-threatening knee injury was mishandled by Manchester United Photo: Reuters |
Hargreaves had been out of action for the best part of three years through injury and was released by the Red Devils at the end of last season.
The 30-year-old then joined cross-town rivals Manchester City on deadline day in August before making his return to football this week, scoring in their 2-0 Carling Cup victory over Birmingham City.
"I've had to be a guinea pig for a lot of these treatments," Hargreaves told reporters.
"But when you're left to try to make something of a difficult situation, it's not really an option to say: 'Let's sit it out and rest for six months.'
"All the people there (at United) are lovely. Everybody tries their best but, at times, you come to a certain point when you need to make a decision.
"They said it (the injections) would help and that I wouldn't have any side effects. That obviously wasn't the case and if I'd known I could have had a reaction like that I wouldn't have done it.
"It was a sh*t position to be in, to be honest. I was trying to make the most of it, but it deteriorated over the season and we had to do these injections. My knee, my tendon, was never the same."
Hargreaves' last appearance for United was against Wolverhampton Wanderers last November, a game he lasted just six minutes before the combative midfielder had to withdraw with a hamstring problem.
He added: "I started that game with two muscle injuries but I should never have been in that position to begin with.
"I was just going to try to get through 45 minutes because that would have been a start. But I didn't even last five.
"I wasn't surprised. I'd said to them that I had a hamstring problem, which I obviously did. I said: 'I think I've got a bit of a problem here.' I was surprised it didn't go in the warm-up, to be completely honest."
Hargreaves' comments are bound to add fuel to the flames of what is already a bitter relationship between the Manchester clubs.
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