Tapping up anyone?

England midfielder Owen Hargreaves will hold a press conference today, to yet again plead with Bayern Munich to allow him to leave the club to play for Manchester United, for a reported $28.9M.

I'm not sure how Manchester United has escaped punishment so far, given the nature of the Chelsea-Ashly Cole tapping up saga of last year.

Karl-Heinz Rumminege, Bayern's president, demanded yesterday that Man Utd cease all communications with Hargreaves, even threatening to involve FIFA in United's violation of a rule that does not allow a club to speak to a player unless the player's current club grants permission.

Uli Hoeness, the Munich club's general manager, claims that Bayern will not be bowled over by the temptation of a large transfer fee

"Bayern Munich will never be taken for a ride and become weak at the knees as soon as a certain level of money is mentioned," he said.

Unfortunately, he's probably wrong, since Hargreaves is more than adamant about wanting to leave Germany to play for Alex Ferguson, the midfielder apparently chatted with at Old Trafford after England's defeat of Greece last week.

One has to wonder why Fergie thinks Hargreaves is worth the nearly $30M offered, especially after splashing out at least $24M for Michael Carrick from Tottenham Hotspur, who was injured before the season began, but at the time of this writing, is included on Man Utd's bench in their match with Charlton today.

Rumors of Argentine international Carlos Tevez leaving Brazilian club Corinthians and coming to Old Trafford are being batted about, which is unlikely, given his $68M buyout clause from the Sao Paulo club.