West Bromwich Albion boss Roy Hodgson has no regrets missing out on Owen Hargreaves.
The released Manchester United midfielder held talks with the Baggies before signing with Manchester City.
Hodgson told the WBA website: "It's a bit different at Manchester City. They play a lot more games than we do.
"They're in the Champions League and they rest and rotate. At a club like ours, we don't rotate our team to the same extent
"We only play 40-odd games a season. We're lucky to play 45.
"That's very different to playing 60 games. I was a bit worried if Owen came in, especially if he was also on the verge of playing, that someone that I think we need to keep might have been pushed out of the door by being pushed one down the pecking order.
"I believe that in midfield we have a strong unit. We haven't seen Dorrans or Gera while Thomas has yet to start a league game - and yet we still feel we've got a strong midfield unit.
"Then, of course, we've got a young boy called George Thorne who we believe in.
"So it was more of a question that, the way we work and are as a club, I would've needed to have seen Owen go directly into the first XI, as it were.
"Of course, you can't see that and he knows himself it was going to take a bit of time and it still was a bit of a gamble, so I think it was easier for Manchester City to take a gamble than us."
