MICHAEL OWEN admits it is “agony” that people don’t remember how good he was – and claimed he was “embarrassed” to play for Manchester United.
Owen rose through the Liverpool ranks from the age of 12, breaking numerous records, going on to become the youngest Prem Golden Boot winner in 1997/98 with 18 goals as an 18-year-old.
GettyMichael Owen has admitted it is ‘agony’ that people don’t remember how good he was in his youth[/caption]
GettyOwen won the Premier League Golden Boot as an 18-year-old and is the second youngest Ballon d’Or winner in history[/caption]
He remains the youngest player to score 100 Prem goals at 23 years four months and 12 days, as well as the second youngest player to win the Ballon d’Or aged 22 in 2001 – becoming just the fourth Englishman to claim the award.
Despite winning a second successive Golden Boot, a brutal hamstring injury in the 1998/99 campaign ultimately marked the decline of his career, despite going on to play for Real Madrid, Man United, Newcastle and then Stoke before retiring in 2013 at the age of just 33.
Owen – who also scored 40 goals in 89 appearances for England – explained: “People will have only seen me or remember me in the later years when I’m getting worse and worse and worse and worse and worse.
“The agony for me is that nobody remembers. Only a few people remember what I was like when I was 10 and 12 and 15 and 18 and maybe up to 22.
“I was past it and on the way down by 21 or whatever.
“That’s the agony because was there another 18-year-old that was anywhere near me at 18? I was light years clear of anything in my age group, anything in England.
“You can bring the next kid and the next kid and the next kid and the next one that scores 10 goals and everybody’s like: ‘Oh, it’s the next Michael Owen’.
“But I was competing against great strikers. Now there’s like four, five good strikers in the Premier League.”
GettyOwen claimed he was ’embarrassed’ to play for Manchester United[/caption]
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With 118 Prem goals in 216 Liverpool games, Owen joined Madrid in 2004 only to make 36 appearances – usually off the bench – scoring 13 goals.
A disappointing four-year stint at Newcastle ended with Owen tasting relegation with the Toon before making the controversial switch to United in 2009, scoring five Prem goals in 31 appearances over three years.
Owen continued: “I split my career in two. Liverpool and Madrid. Afterwards, because I just wasn’t the same. I loved it at United, but it wasn’t me. I was half embarrassed.
“It’s like, can I not just change my name and call me something else? I don’t want people to remember me. It was killing me.
“I could still score. I couldn’t rip a team’s heart out anymore.
“I didn’t retire because of my body. I retired because my mind was about to explode. And I couldn’t have it anymore that I was just a Premier League player.”
In the 2001 Ballon d’Or, Owen pipped the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo while still at Liverpool, but he explained: “I didn’t really know what it was when I won it.
“It was only when I went to Madrid. They don’t mention your name without saying Ballon d’Or winner after it. But in England, no one’s said anything.”
Owen understands what Trent Alexander-Arnold is going through, who was booed by the Anfield faithful after deciding to leave his boyhood Liverpool for Madrid on a free this summer.
Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents Podcast, Owen said: “I didn’t like [the Trent criticism]. Fans will never get it because they’ve got a badge there until the day they die.
“But it’s our career, it’s our life. Someone like Jack Grealish. The Aston Villa fans booed him and are quite nasty to this day against him. It made me feel physically sick.
“If he said no to Manchester City, what would our game be like? What would football be like? It’d be rubbish. Here’s people that actually show a bit of something. A bit of risk.
“New language, new teammates, new country, new everything. It’s like a big risk. We’re just people that are trying to do the best they can do.”
Listen to the full Rio Meets Michael Owen interview on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: www.youtube.com/@rioferdinandpresents
GettyOwen is one of few Englishmen to play for Real Madrid[/caption]
GettyThe retired striker has discussed Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move to the Spanish giants[/caption] Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
