In March, my top ten missed players (Fernando Torres, Michael Essien, Martin Laursen etc) list attracted a couple of 'what about Owen Hargreaves?' comments that were summarily dismissed. United had gone 16 games unbeaten in the Premier League, had just wiped the floor with Fulham in the FA Cup and were halfway to beating Inter in the Champions League. Clearly, they were missing nothing.
A few days later the argument carried more weight as Steven Gerrard threw a party in the space a fit Hargreaves would have occupied. Now, the morning after the Champions League final, a new list would see Hargreaves in the top three.
When Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid on the road to 2001 Champions League glory, Hargreaves was their outstanding performer. When England crashed out of the 2006 World Cup to Portugal, Hargreaves was man of the match. When United needed a calm penalty-taker in last year's Champions League final, Hargreaves stepped up and scored with aplomb.
You get the pattern? Hargreaves saves his big performances for the big occasions, when his stamina, tenacity and apparent nervelessness are priceless against the world's truly outstanding players. He's the one man in the United squad who would have been capable of shackling Andres Iniesta or doing the job on Steven Gerrard that Michael Essien executed to perfection at Anfield.
Hargreaves was bought for just such occasions - an antidode to the humbling footballing lesson handed to United in Milan two years ago when Kaka was given the freedom of the city to orchestrate a 3-0 pasting for United.
He may be surplus to requirements against Stoke or Bolton, but he becomes the most important player on the park against an Iniesta, a Kaka or a Gerrard. His absence is one of the reasons United have fared so poorly this season against the Premier League's very best and probably the primary reason why they are heading back to Manchester with losers' medals.
Here at Football365, we have long bemoaned the canonisation of Michael Carrick, a player who looks good in a team blessed with possession against poor-quality opposition. Ask him to shine against a Milan, a Liverpool or a Barcelona and he looks very ordinary. Hargreaves is his polar opposite and for all the talk of United's squad strength, he is the one player for which they have no replacement.
Hargreaves is expected to be fit for pre-season, but can Sir Alex take that chance on a player who was never supposed to miss a whole season? Forget Carlos Tevez, this summer's priority should be an energetic midfielder - in the mould of Javier Mascherano - capable of doing a reducing job on the world's best players. Without him, that third European title looks a lot further away than it did in the aftermath of Moscow.
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