Manchester: Manchester City's Owen Hargreaves has revealed his frustration at former employers Manchester United, claiming he felt like a "guinea pig" with some of the treatments he had to endure for his troublesome knees.
The former England midfielder believes that if he had been treated differently he would have recovered a lot sooner, instead of playing just nine minutes in two years at Old Trafford.
He left the Premier League champions on a free transfer this summer and moved to their cross-town rivals.
He told the The Guardian: "I've had to be a guinea pig for a lot of these treatments. But when you're left to try to make something of a difficult situation, it's not really an option to say: 'Let's sit it out and rest for six months.'"
"With hindsight it's a lot easier. And, yes, the injections I had I probably should not have had."
"But it's difficult. All the people there [at United] are lovely. Everybody tries their best but, at times, you come to a certain point when you need to make a decision. They said it [the injections] would help and that I wouldn't have any side-effects."
"That obviously wasn't the case and, if I'd known I could have had a reaction like that, I wouldn't have done it. It's my career - I'm in it. I'm trying to get all this information. I'm hearing about tendons and, before, I didn't know anything about tendons."
"I mean, I knew I had one, but I didn't know its real function."
The 30-year-old, who new boss Roberto Mancini believes could be recalled into the England squad, revealed he would get jealous of people playing football matches during the three years he has been injured.
He continued: "I'd watch games and, as funny as it sounds, I'd actually be jealous of the way people could move. I'd wonder if I was ever going to be able to be as sharp, things like that."
Hargreaves added that he still has a lot of respect for his former employers and is pleased to have a new chapter in his footballing career.
He added: "United are one of the biggest clubs in the world with Barcelona and Real Madrid. They have a lot of wonderful people there. I'm sad for myself that I wasn't able to play a bigger part there."
"I really envisaged it going differently but it didn't materialise the way I anticipated. They've moved on now and they've got a wonderful group of players."
"The young guys who are coming through look great. So I'm happy for them as well. But this is a new chapter in my life."
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