Hoeness concedes Hargreaves move is back on agenda

Owen Hargreaves will sit down with Bayern Munich's management in the next few days to determine his future with a summer transfer to Old Trafford the most likely outcome.

The England midfielder has been responsive to Manchester United's overtures for more than nine months now but Bayern have previously insisted on holding him to the four-year deal he signed last summer. However, in the wake of their Champions League exit to Milan on Wednesday night Uli Hoeness, Bayern's executive director, conceded it was time to talk.

Franz Beckenbauer, the president, intimated before the match that he was inclined to accept a bid of £17-20m and he believed the board felt the same. Hoeness said: "We will sit down calmly in the next few days and discuss the situation at board level. If we are prepared to sell Owen, then we go to negotiations with Manchester United." The fee is large for a holding midfielder but Hoeness added: "What is money when you lose games?"

The answer, should Bayern fail to improve on their current fourth place in the Bundesliga, is that an influx of income would be needed. German clubs are the poor relations of Europe's big four. Their grounds may be full but admission prices are low. The economy is booming but television money, following a lack of competition since the collapse of the Kirsch empire, is poor.

The effects are being felt on the pitch. Since Bayern won the Champions League in 2001, no German club has reached the semi-finals. It is hardly surprising Hargreaves wants to follow Michael Ballack into the Premiership. "I will sit down with them and we will discuss how my future looks," he said. His future looks to be outside Germany.