Hargreaves praises Beckham

13 April 2012

Owen Hargreaves has no doubt that England will benefit from David Beckham's move to Real Madrid. Beckham himself believes that the new challenges of the Spanish game will broaden his experience in much the same way that playing in a foreign country enhanced the careers of past England stars like Ray Wilkins, Trevor Francis, Mark Hateley, Gary Lineker and David Platt.

Former England manager Bobby Robson always claimed that, for his players, the benefits of the foreign experience outweighed the inevitable problems with call-ups but, in recent years, few of England's stars have been deemed good enough to play abroad.

Now, a handful are sought after but only two actually ply their trade in Europe. Hargreaves' progress has been unusual as he has been with Bayern Munich from the outset, and the England captain is in the early stages of justifying the £25million Real paid Manchester United for him.

The likelihood is that Sven-Goran Eriksson will pair the two of them in a diamondshaped midfield when England bid for three qualifying points and a seventh straight win in tomorrow's Euro 2004 qualifying clash against Macedonia. England haven't won seven consecutive matches since the build-up to the 1966 World Cup triumph.

Hargreaves already displays the guile and flexibility that's ingrained in many Bundesliga players and is benefiting from playing in Germany just like former England captain and manager Kevin Keegan profited from his time at Hamburg, where he was twice voted European Footballer of the Year.

Beckham now has the chance to add new dimensions to his own game. "I think it will be a good move for him," said Hargreaves. "He's performed well so far and I think it will benefit both him and the England team."

David Platt, the England Under-21 manager who played for Bari, Juventus and under Eriksson at Sampdoria, captained England in his 62-cap international career and knows the advantages of playing abroad.

"There's no doubt that it widens your horizons both

as a player and a person," he said. "From a footballing perspective it can be an education with obvious benefits to the England team."

Playing in Italy and Spain helped players like Platt, Wilkins and Lineker develop new skills and I've no doubt that any of Eriksson's men who played at the top level in a foreign country would bring a richness and diversity to the England team that we haven't seen in recent years.

We may see some evidence of that with Hargreaves and

Beckham in the next few weeks. Four days after the Macedonia match, England meet Liechtenstein at Old Trafford and then, next month, travel to Turkey for the final qualifying tie.

Unlike some of his England teammates, Hargreaves is flexible enough to play anywhere across midfield or at right-back, though his favourite role is the holding position in front of the back four. "That's my best position and I'm playing there for Bayern at the moment," he said. "But I'm happy to play anywhere for England.

"When they're all fit we have a world-class midfield so it's not easy to win a place. When you get the chance you have to put in a performance that makes it difficult for the manager to leave you out. You have to play well because there are people waiting to take their chance."

Hargreaves looked as though he was being fast-tracked to stardom in Japan last summer. He played in England's opening game against Sweden but, in the 1-0 win over

Argentina, injury intervened and subsequently slowed his progress.

He was on the substitutes' bench for the disappointing 2-2 draw with Macedonia at Southampton in October and said: "I thought they were a good side. Everyone believes it's going to be a walkover when you play against small countries but it never is. "Macedonia did well against Turkey too so I think it's going to be difficult for us."

It will be. But Macedonia have lost their last chance of qualifying and, with little to play for apart from pride.

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