English FA Premiership/Arsenal v Manchester United:Alex Ferguson will go into a weekend of potentially huge significance for the title race, not only hoping to extend Manchester United's six-point advantage over Chelsea but to put an end to the long-running transfer saga involving Owen Hargreaves. Ferguson said last night United had "hit a brick wall" but the club are hoping to break Bayern Munich's resolve after putting an offer in the region of £18 million into writing.

David Gill, the United chief executive, faxed the bid through to Bayern after receiving indications they would finally be willing to allow the midfielder to move. However, it remains a complicated process and there is a considerable element of doubt about whether the move will be ratified within the transfer window.

Gill's information is the Bayern hierarchy cannot agree between themselves and, as a result, he has received mixed signals. At times the haggling process has caused friction between the two clubs. Bayern were outraged when they discovered Ferguson had secretly met the midfielder in Manchester to sell him the idea of moving to Old Trafford.

One certainty is that Hargreaves does not need any more persuasion, the England international having sought to orchestrate his departure from Bayern with a concerted campaign through the media to make it clear he wants to play in the Premiership.

His stance has angered the Bayern officials, in particular the president Franz Beckenbauer and the general manager Uli Hoeness - perhaps justifiably given he signed a new contract only last season. However, it did not stop Hargreaves making his feelings clear yet again last night.

"Manchester United have such a talented team, such a great nucleus," he said. "Look at Rio (Ferdinand), Wazza (Wayne Rooney) and Cristiano Ronaldo. For a club like that to make an offer for me is something I appreciate."

Ferguson, who described the situation as "difficult", hopes to have an answer over the weekend or early next week, and end a saga that has now dragged on since last summer's World Cup. Hargreaves is close to full fitness after breaking his leg and Ferguson has instructed Gill to do everything he can to bring him in before the end of January.

Uppermost in Ferguson's mind is it will be a statement of the club's intent at a time when Chelsea's owner Roman Abramovich has made it clear he is unwilling to give Jose Mourinho the backing he has become used to in the transfer market, although the Russian is reportedly set to relent.

Ferguson's hope is Mourinho's players may be distracted by the turmoil behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge and was emboldened enough yesterday to float the possibility it had left United in "an excellent position" to win the title.

"The most important thing is for us to look at ourselves rather than at what Chelsea do," said Ferguson, whose side make their first trip to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium tomorrow. "We've got to try and keep our consistency from now until the end of the season. It is going to be consistency that decides it, no question.

"Our form is good but there have been examples of us being charitable, at West Ham and Newcastle (where Manchester United lost and drew respectively), and these are danger signs for us. We have to make sure nothing like that happens on a regular basis over these last 15 matches."

Ferguson, who confirmed he did not want to sell Gabriel Heinze, insisted he was not overly concerned by Wayne Rooney's erratic form and his failure to score in more than 10 hours and 40 minutes of football.

"There's nothing wrong with Wayne," he said. "In a lot of cases it has been down to bad luck. He just needs a little break . . . He's working his socks off. He's had spells of twos and threes but he needs to get into that one-goal-a-game thing strikers can do. If he does that, it will make a big, big difference to our run-in."

Meanwhile, Edwin van der Sar has stated his ambitions at United extend beyond winning the League Cup. The Dutch goalkeeper was part of the team which lifted the trophy last season when Wigan were defeated at the Millennium Stadium. He said: "It would be great to win a championship medal in my second season at United. The Carling Cup does not do it for me personally. You want to win bigger things at this club."

Guardian Service