Hargreaves reveals Chelsea offer

The Blues spent more than £100 million in the summer and were linked to a host of stars across Europe - although Hargreaves's name was not prominent.

He has though, now confirmed that he was on Chelsea's wanted list - but Bayern did not entertain their offer.

Hargreaves has been linked with a move to The Premiership ever since he broke into the first team at The Olympic Stadium in 2000, but nothing has ever materialised and he seems happy to continue in Die Bundesliga - although he also admits that knowing there is interest in him is pleasing.

"It was not a question of me accepting the offer as from Bayern's end they told me that they were not interested," Hargreaves revealed.

"I was happy with that, because I want to play in the team here - I am needed here and it shows me that it's nice to know there is a market for me out there."

Hargreaves confirmed that it was his intention to stake out a central midfield role and shrug off the versatile tag.

"I want to be one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, but for that I need to work hard," he said.

The 22-year-old was criticised by Oliver Kahn for his display in the weekend's surprise loss to Wolfsburg, but Hargreaves was not being drawn on the verbal attack.

"Primarily, each player must decide for itself what is correct and what he says about fellow players," he continued to tell Kicker.

"The coach decides whether this is okay or not.

"I did not play well against Wolfsburg, and through Oliver Kahn's criticism it may develop into people thinking I have had a bad season.

"But before the HSV [Hamburg] game, which I missed because of injury, Ottmar Hitzfeld told me he was happy with me and if sometimes there is praise - as with the English coach Sven Goran Eriksson, then that is naturally good.

"No individual player is to blame for how a team plays."