Roberto Mancini believes Owen Hargreaves will be more than a bit-part player for Manchester City.
Hargreaves was a surprise deadline day signing for City, and while Mancini has admitted would have preferred either Fernando Gago and Daniele De Rossi, he believes Hargreaves can play a key role for City.
"Hargreaves was a free transfer, he was without a team," Mancini said. "We needed a midfielder and we thought that he could be good for us because Hargreaves was a fantastic player.
"He had a big [injury] problem in the last two years but I hope he can play very well for us. We have injury problems at the moment. I think if Hargreaves is fit in two weeks he will play for us. He is 30 years old, he is young. He was very unlucky the last two years."