Honest James

James Lawton has a piece today on the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti in which, just for a change, he makes copious reference to Barcelona. The amusing thing though - he has a go at people for "overstated praise":

Barça show up TV pretenders

Not the least achievement of Barcelona's football team last week was to ignite both joy and anger in the heart of the great Jimmy Greaves, who many still insist was the deadliest striker ever produced by England.

Greaves was enthralled and thrilled by the beauty of the Barça performance. But it provoked anger when he reflected how constantly the modern game is larded with overstated praise in the TV studios.

Is James Lawton completely lacking in self-awareness?
Onto news that concerns us, and there's only two stories today. Owen Hargreaves is doubtful for the start of the season:

Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, had hoped to have Hargreaves playing by the start of the new season in August, but his recovery from two knee operations is taking longer than expected and neither the club nor the player is prepared to rush his return for fear of a setback.

Hargreaves underwent surgery on his right knee last November and on his left knee in January at the Colorado clinic of Dr Richard Steadman, the world-renowned knee surgeon, in an attempt to cure a tendinitis problem that has plagued his career since a £20.2million move to United from Bayern Munich in July 2007.

He has spent much of his time since then in Vail, Colorado, being monitored closely by Steadman, but, given the complexity of the injury, the pain has yet to subside properly and the player is only able to do very light training exercises.

The next couple of months are likely to provide more definitive answers, with Hargreaves hopeful of being able to join his team-mates for light training once or twice a week from next month or August before stepping up his rehabilitation programme to include more rigorous training after that. It is doubtful, though, that he will return to action before the new year.

And we may be further forward to knowing Tevez's future tomorrow:

Manchester United hope to sign Carlos Tevez tomorrow - but only on their terms.

United chief executive David Gill will meet Kia Joorabchian, Tevez's chief representative, in a final bid to get the striker for a knock-down price of £20million.

Despite agreeing a transfer fee of £25.5m for Tevez at the start of the player's two-year loan deal, the Premier League champions are now reluctant to pay that figure.

United hope to reach a compromise, but with Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City willing to pay the full amount, that seems unlikely.

So although United have first refusal on a deal, the 25-year-old Argentina forward is now likely to leave Old Trafford.

With The Independent reporting that Man City are favourites to sign him:

Liverpool's negotiating position has placed them behind Manchester City in the pursuit of Manchester United forward Carlos Tevez. Rafael Benitez does not appear to be willing to match the £25.5m the Argentinian's representatives are seeking from United for the settlement of the loan of the player, under a deal which expires at the end of this month.

The wages being offered by City are also superior to Liverpool's which would seem to make them a prime contender for his services. Chelsea and Real Madrid are also understood to have matched the requirements of the investment consortium, headed by Kia Joorabchian, which holds the player's rights – though Chelsea's pursuit of Kaka reveals that Tevez could not expect to command the regular first-team football which he so craves.