Michael Owen

Michael Owen Stats
-Full Name: Michael James Owen
-Birthplace: Chester, England
-Height: 170cm (5ft 7ins)
-Date of Birth: 14/12/1979
-Position: Striker
-Squad Number:7

International Football
England U-20 (1997)
England U-21 (1997)
England (1998-)

Introduction
The son of former Everton and Chester City footballer Terry Owen, Michael Owen commenced his senior career with Liverpool in 1996, where he went on to make 300 appearances and scoring an impressive 160 goals. During his eight year spell with the Merseysiders he won two League Cups, one F.A. Cup and the UEFA Cup (now the Europa Cup) in 2001, which helped him pick up the European Footballer of the Year accolade.During his career thus far Michael Owen has played for Spanish giants Real Madrid, had an injury plagued four year spell with Newcastle United and has 89 caps for England, where he has netted 40 times, a feat that currently puts him 4th on the all-time goalscorer’s list behind Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker and top man Sir Bobby Charlton.

Michael Owen Liverpool Career
When the youn striker was 13 Liverpool beat off the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United to sign Owen on schoolboy terms. From the age of 13 to 16 he studied at the F.A.’s School of Excellence at Lilleshall, Shropshire. When he graduated in the Spring of 1996 his club quickly signed up to a Youth Training Scheme. Just four months later Michael Owen signed his first professional contract in football and finally made his Liverpool debut 6 months later in May 1997, when he came on as a second half substitute and quickly grabbed the winner in a 2-1 victory over Wimbledon at Selhurst Park.

The following season ((1997-98) after an injury to first choice striker Robbie Fowler, Owen was thrust into the first team as a more than capable replacement. He would go on to be crowned co top goalscorer in the Premier League along with former Manchester United striker Dion Dublin and Blackburn’s Chris Sutton with a haul of 18 goals. His goalscoring antics during his first full season earned him the PFA Young player of the Year accolade. The following season he proved that finishing top of the Premier League’s scoring charts was no fluke by repeating the feat. Ironically he shared the honour once more with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink of Leeds and Manchester United’s Dwight Yorke, again with 18 goals.

Over the next couple of season Michael Owen scored 36 goals for Liverpool and in 2001 he helped the club win the League Cup, UEFA Cup and F.A. Cup. In the final of the latter the striker showed is striking credentials as he netted two late goals for the club, to hand them a 2-1 victory; all this after they had trailed for most of the game.

2001 proved a defining year for Michael Owen not only did he win a ‘treble’ with Liverpool, but he picked up the European Footballer of the Year accolade and scored his 100th goal for Liverpool on 21 December against Londoners West Ham United.

In his final three seasons at Liverpool the player could only help the club win the League Cup in 2003, against Manchester United despite scoring 77 goals in 138 matches.At the end of the 2003-04 season Owen dropped a bombshell on the Merseyside club, by announcing he wished to leave, and with his contract running out Real Madrid stepped in and signed the player for a fee of £8m.

Michael Owen Real Madrid Career
On 13th August 2004 Owen finally signed for the Spanish giants and was given the number 11 shirt. After a rather slow start to his career at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu the striker eventually found his feet in the October when he netted his first goal for the club in a 1-0 Champions League victory over Dynamo Kiev. A couple of day later he endeared himself to the Los Blancos fans further when he scored the only goal of a crucial La Liga game against high-flyers Valencia; Owen had now hit a rich vein of form and went on to score in 3 of the next four games. Although chances in the first team seemed few and far between the striker did manage to finish the season as Real Madrid’s second top league goalscorer, behind Brazilian Ronaldo with 13 goals. In his one and only season in Spain Michael Owen made 41 appearances in total, scoring 18 times.

At the end of the 2004-05 campaign Owen had become disillusioned with life on the continent and signalled his wish to return to England to re-commence his footballing career. After former club Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton had been put off by Real Madrid’s asking price, it was Newcastle United who decided to take the £16m gamble on the player.

Michael Owen Newcastle United Career
On 31st August 2005 after much media speculation Michael Owen signed for Newcastle United on a four year deal, for a club record fee of £16m.

The striker’s early career at the club was far from an easy one, The Magpies were struggling in the League and Owen found goal scoring chances to be few and far between. On 18 September 2005 Michael Owen scored his first goal in the black and white of Newcastle United in a 3-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park and just three days after his 26th birthday on 17 December 2005 he scored his first hat-trick for his new club in a 4-2 victory over West Ham United.

Disaster struck the striker just two weeks after his hat-trick scoring heroics, when he broke his metatarsal after colliding with Tottenham Hotspur and England’s goalkeeper Paul Robinson. Although he player did return to action later that season he could only manage 11 games during his first campaign with Newcastle United, but did weigh in with seven goals.

The following season saw heartbreak again for the player when he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after falling awkwardly in England’s 2006 World Cup group match victory over Sweden. This injury meant he would not play again for 10 months. He returned to action on 30 April 2007 in a 1-0 defeat by Reading. The catalogue of injuries at the start of his Newcastle United career meant the player was limited to just 14 appearances in his first two seasons on Tyneside.

The following two seasons, although not completely injury free were a lot kinder on Michael Owen he made a further 64 appearances for the club and scored a reasonable 23 goals. However, unfortunately in his last season with the Geordies, the club were relegated to The Championship, which led to a great deal of speculation that the player would leave on a free-transfer.

Michael Owen Manchester United Career
On 3 July 2009 Manchester United made the shock announcement that they had signed the England striker on a free-transfer; beating off competition from Hull City, Stoke City, Aston Villa and Everton in the process. In a later interview Michael Owen stated that he had received a phone call from Sir Alex Ferguson, who asked him if he would care to join him for breakfast the following morning. Owen assumed the canny Scot wanted to talk to him about their mutual passion of horse racing, but to his surprise, Ferguson declared that he wanted the player to join him at Manchester United. Just a few days later Michael Owen accepted the offer and signed on the dotted line. The striker was given the number ‘7’ shirt left behind by the departed Cristiano Ronaldo and made his competitive debut on 16 August 2009 in a 1-0 Premier League victory over Birmingham City at Old Trafford.

Michael Owen England Career
Michael Owen’s international career started off with a bang. He made his senior debut on 11 February 1998 in a 2-0 friendly defeat by Chile at Wembley stadium. This was a landmark game for the player as he became the youngest player to play for the full England team in the 20th Century at the age of 18 years 59 days, beating the former holder of that title Duncan Edwards by 124 days. Owen subsequently lost this honour to Wayne Rooney in February 2003.

In another friendly match before the 1998 World Cup Owen netted his first senior England goal against Morocco, which made him England’s youngest ever goalscorer. Although the media and fans were calling for Owen to start for England in the tournament in France, manager Glen Hoddle left the striker on the bench. In England’s second group game against Romania the young striker made an immediate impact when he came off the bench to score England’s only goal of the game in a 2-1 defeat.

After his goalscoring substitute appearance Glen Hoddle decided that he would start Michael Owen in England’s last-16 match against highly fancied Argentina. And it was this match which catapulted the striker to super stardom, when he opened the scoring with a super solo goal after gliding past two Argentine defenders before smashing the ball into the top corner. The goal was later voted the best goal of World Cup 1998 by many publications across the globe. Unfortunately England went on to draw the match 2-2 and were knocked out of the tournament on penalties.

On 1 September 2001 Michael Owen netted his first hat-trick for England in a 5-1 victory over arch-rivals Germany in Munich and just six months later in April 2002 in a friendly match against Paraguay Owen received the great honour of captaining England, when regular captain David Beckham was withdrawn from the squad due to injury.In the 2006 World Cup Owen started England’s first two group games against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, before he ruptured his anterior cruciate knee ligament in a victory over Sweden in the final group stage.

As things currently stand Michael Owen has played 89 times for England, scoring 40 goals.

Michael Owen Honours
Liverpool
-UEFA Cup: 2001
-European Super Cup: 2001
-FA Cup: 2001
-League Cup: 2001, 2003

Manchester United

-Carling Cup 2010

Michael Owen Personal Honours
-PFA Young Player of the Year: 1998
-PFA Team of the Year: 1998
-Premier League joint top scorer: 1998, 1999
-European Footballer of the Year: 2001
-BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 1998