United Reject Hargreaves Claims

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has defended his medical staff after claims by Owen Hargreaves that the club treated him like a guinea pig while trying to recover from injury.

Hargreaves says treatment for chronic injury problems during his three years at United affected his recovery and that injections he was given by club doctors actually made things worse.

Ferguson was adamant in defending his staff: "My medical team are one of the main reasons United have been so successful. You think we'd be successful if we didn't have an operation that was 100%?

"They're fantastic. That's my opinion and that's more important than anything anyone else has to say about it."

A club statement followed saying: "United does not acknowledge any validity in the comments Owen is alleged to have made.

"The club gave him the best possible care for three years and is as disappointed as anyone he was not able to play a part in the team's success at that time."

Hargreaves' new boss at Manchester City Roberto Mancini doesn't think there was anything wrong with the way United's medical staff treated the injury. He says City are not doing anything differently.