Hargreaves ponders calling time on career

The 31-year-old has seen a series of knee injuries hamper his impact on the Premier League over the past three years.

He joined Manchester City last summer having been released by rivals Manchester United, but only made four appearances, his last coming in January, before the Premier League champions opted to cancel his contract at the end of the season.

And the former Bayern Munich star conceded he is now considering all options before deciding whether to retire from the game.

"I don't want to chase something," he said. "If I get the right fit I will go for it. But I am not forced to do anything and if I can't get back to the level I used to, I don't want to play."

Hargreaves has taken time to reflect on his career as the possibility of drawing the curtain on his profession begins to sink in.

"I am a football player," he added. "That is how I am identified as an individual.

"I was pretty humbled in the sense that was taken away from me. Now it is about taking the next step and deciding what I want to do.

"But the really satisfying thing is that I have put myself in a position where I can actually think about it.

"Maybe I will never be in a Champions League final or semi-final again but to get to where I am now is a huge achievement."

Nick Moore

Nick Moore is a freelance journalist based on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. He wrote his first FourFourTwo feature in 2001 about Gerard Houllier's cup-treble-winning Liverpool side, and has continued to ink his witty words for the mag ever since. Nick has produced FFT's 'Ask A Silly Question' interview for 16 years, once getting Peter Crouch to confess that he dreams about being a dwarf.