Rio Ferdinand named five players who should have played more for England and singled out a star who made players “better”.
Ferdinand earned 81 caps for the Three Lions, debuting in 1997 and concluding his international career in 2011.
As a member of the ‘Golden Generation’, the 46-year-old shared the pitch with numerous elite players representing his country. However, in November 2023, he highlighted some players who did not receive the playing time they merited.
Among those mentioned were Andy Cole, Matt Le Tissier, and Des Walker, but Ferdinand specifically noted Owen Hargreaves, a former teammate at both club and international levels.
Hargreaves established his reputation at Bayern Munich, where he secured the Champions League title and four Bundesliga championships over seven years before transferring to Manchester United, where he achieved a double in his inaugural season.
Due to injury challenges, the midfielder made only 42 appearances for England over seven years, earning the nation’s Player of the Year accolade in 2006.
Nonetheless, Ferdinand contends that Hargreaves deserved more playing time, as he had the ability to elevate the performance of players such as Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, and Frank Lampard.
“Owen Hargreaves is another one,” the former TNT Sports pundit said on Rio Ferdinand presents.
“Playing for Bayern Munich, winning Champions League, winning Bundesliga, then comes to England.
“Does the same thing [with United]… he would have been another one. If it wasn’t Michael Carrick, [then] it should have been him. He was playing all the time.
“Because, again, I think he makes other players better around him. He makes [David] Beckham better, he would have made — if he played alongside him — Scholesy [Paul Scholes], [Steven] Gerrard, [Frank] Lampard [better] because he is a different player to those players.
“His profile is very different, just like Carrick’s is from those four players.”
Hargreaves made 34 appearances across all competitions during his debut season with United, yet he only managed a total of five appearances in the subsequent three seasons.
Due to his ongoing injury issues, he was released and remarked that he felt like “a guinea pig,” believing that injections significantly contributed to his knees feeling “as if they were made of glass.”
Hargreaves stated that his knees deteriorated “considerably worse due to the injections” and received medical confirmation that it was “absolutely” the incorrect type of treatment to undergo.
Sir Alex Ferguson refuted these allegations, asserting, “Do you think I would permit that? Absolutely no chance. This club must be successful and must have the best individuals in the best roles to achieve success. That is what we have.”
He transferred to rival club Manchester City, scoring in his debut match against Birmingham, but only played three more times thereafter.
Hargreaves departed from City shortly after and, following a training period with Queens Park Rangers, ultimately retired from professional football.
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