Michael Owen

Profile

Owen's brief flirtation with the Spanish league came to an end on transfer deadline day in August 2005 when he put pen to paper on a four-year contract with Newcastle United.

Owen had fallen way down the pecking order with Real Madrid after they strengthened in the summer and that, coupled with the immovable objects of Raul and Ronaldo, led to his departure in search of first team football with the World Cup less than a year away.

It was the transfer coup of the summer as the struggling Magpies, who were 19th in the Premiership and had failed to score a single goal in their opening four fixtures, beat off competition from Liverpool, the striker's old club.

The player had himself insisted, only days beforehand, that he would only consider a loan move to St James' Park IF Liverpool failed to make a move for his signature.

But Newcastle rendered his comments worthless by tabling a club record bid, believed to be £17million, for the prolific forward.

Not only did it put them in the driving seat in the transfer race, it ruled out almost all of their competitors who could not match the bid.

Owen held talks with Liverpool but it soon became clear they did not have the funds to match Newcastle's offer.

The striker burst onto the scene in 1997 when he made his debut for Liverpool against Wimbledon, soon becoming the hottest property in the British game and one of the brightest talents to emerge in this country for many years.

He hit thirty goals during his first season in the Premiership and became the youngest player in the 20th century to play for England, making his debut against Chile at the age of eighteen years and two months.

He emerged as one of the stars of France '98 and of course scored an amazing goal - his solo effort against Argentina in the second-round.

The Chester-born striker was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year in 1997/98, and was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1998.

He bagged 28 goals in the 1998/99 season but missed the last month of the season with a hamstring injury, which kept reoccurring and reoccurring and has hampered his career and explosive pace.

He featured in England's Euro 2000 campaign but was mysteriously substituted in all three games, even after having scored one of his trademark goals against Romania.

But he didn't let that stop him from a blistering start to the 2000/01 season, emerging early on as leading scorer in the Premiership.

A combination of injury and the inspired form of his rival strikers at Anfield kept Owen on the bench much more than he would have like domestically.

Despite two timely goals against Serie A giants AS Roma in the UEFA Cup the England hitman had to watch Liverpool's Worthington Cup triumph against Birmingham City from the sidelines.

But as the 2000/01 season drew to an end, Owen hit top form again and overtook the club's top scorer Emile Heskey. He hit a hat-trick against Newcastle in May and followed that up in the next game with a double against Chelsea.

Owen showed he was back to his best in May 2001 when netting eight goals in four games for Liverpool - including two in the FA Cup final as the Reds beat Arsenal 2-1.

He started the 2001/02 season in the same electric form of the previous campaign and equaled Ian Rush's club record by scoring his 20th goal in European competitions for Liverpool in February 2003.

While in red-hot form he hit a hat-trick against Germany in Munich when England historically triumphed 5-1 in a World Cup qualifier in 2001. The last Englishman to have scored three against Germany was Sir Geoff Hurst in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley.

Owen helped England to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, netting two goals in the process.

He finished the next three seasons as Liverpool's top scorer, netting 118 goals in 216 league appearances.

The striker was instrumental in helping England qualify for Euro 2004 but he went to the tournament in patchy form and only netted once in Portugal.

On his return from the tournament, and with just one year left on his contract, he departed Anfield bound for Real Madrid for a paltry £8million, plus Antonio Nunez.

He joined England skipper David Beckham at the Bernabeu in a bid to rejuvenate his career and challenge for honour domestically and in Europe.

It's perhaps ironic that Real would win nothing while Liverpool were crowned champions of Europe in 2004/05.

Owen scored 158 goals in 297 games for Liverpool.

His one season in Spain was not the happiest. In the first half of the season he struggled to get a look-in and despite playing in a three-pronged attack after Christmas it was never felt he had the support of the management - both on the training field and in the board room.

Though Owen out scored Raul - bagging 13 goals in 10 La Liga starts - he was pushed out by the summer signings of Robinho and Julio Baptista. And when he was left out of the squad for the 2005/06 opener against Cadiz he had to leave.

England coach Sven Goran Eriksson had warned Owen he must be playing regularly to stay in his plans for the 2006 World Cup. And Newcastle became the only viable option open to the player as the August deadline approached.

The signing of Owen went down a storm on Tyneside. The Magpies set up a huge welcome party at St James', to which around 20,000 fans turned up on a Wednesday lunchtime.

He openly admitted his first choice was a return to Liverpool, but spoke of his desire to score goals for Newcastle - much to the delight of the thronged masses.