So the Summer Transfer window has slammed shut for another year, but not before a truly shocking, and fascinating final day of transfer madness. The most shocking transfer, for me, was the move of Owen Hargreaves to Manchester City.

It was widely known that Hargreaves was a free agent after being released by Manchester United earlier in the summer window. They felt that he was just not worth the wages anymore, as he had only played under 10 minutes football in the past two years.

Before his horrible injury record over the last 3 years, Hargreaves was one of the best holding midfielders in the world. He was named England’s player of the tournament in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and proved his value with a later, big money move to Old Trafford. However since that move, Hargreaves knees gave way under him, with his battle against his tendinitis in both joints. This lead Manchester United to decline the chance to offer him a new contract at the end of the 2010/11 season.

Hargreaves then was on the hunt for a new club, and famously posted a series of videos of himself training on YouTube to try and prove his fitness to potential clubs. These included very intensive exercises on his knees, so he could prove that he is still able to play at the top level.

Many teams were rumored to be interested in Hargreaves throughout the window, mainly West Brom, who were thought to want to take a chance on the fitness of the injury plagued player. However deadline day came and Hargreaves still had no club. Out of the blue, reports came that Hargreaves had been taken by Manchester City for a medical and they were about to offer him a contract.

To me, this seems a fairly strange transfer for both the club and the player. Firstly for the club, they already have, arguably, 6 players that can play in the position Hargreaves plays, in Nasri, Silva, Toure, De Jong, Barry and Milner. Therefore it would seem that Hargreaves is going to be their 7th choice central midfielder. Do they really need him?

For the player, this seems like a very strange move for him. He needs to get regular football at a club to help put his injury nightmare behind him, and at Manchester City, I don’t see this happening. I would be surprised if he even makes the bench for the majority of their games. He needed to go to a smaller club to gain more first team football in a competitive league. He may be involved with a winning squad at Manchester City, but surely he wants to play football.

I hope he proves me wrong, and forces his way into the Manchester City squad and team and recaptures the talent he showed before he got his injury problems. He was, after all, one of the best players England had in his prime, and hopefully he can push himself back up into the thoughts of England once again.