1. Michael Owen
Neal Simpson/EMPICS SportMichael Owen likes a lot of things. Golf. Horses. Everton. Being boring on Match of the Day. The thing that most defines him as a player, and as a man, might be how much he enjoys not playing for Liverpool, though. We say this with a heavy heart, as Liverpool faithful whose burgeoning support dovetailed with the young Owen's dynamic debut with Anfield, as devoted fans who weren't surprised when he turned up and scored goal after goal for England during France 98. We say it as fans who saw how good he could be, and how much he squandered all that potential as soon as he set foot out of Merseyside. We were lucky to get him at all in the first place, really, since almost every major Premier League team tried to snap Owen up for their schoolboy squads. He was adamant, though, that Liverpool was the place for him; and we were happy to have him. At age 17 in 1997 he was already being rated as one of the best attackers in the country which, considering he was of the same generation as Fowler and Beckham, certainly tells you something. His remarkable goal scoring record beneath the Kop gives you all the further proof you need that Owen was indeed one of the strongest strikers we've ever had. Then things all began to sour. As with so many others on this list, persistent injury took Owen out of contention as the backbone of Liverpool's strike force a lot of the time, although he still helped us secure that historic treble in 2001, and he remained the team's top scorer every season since 1998. Real Madrid signed him for £8 million in 2004, where he was confined to the bench in the light of the squad's Galácticos halcyon days with Ronaldo, Beckham and Zidane to choose from. He eventually got the chance to score some goals, but ended up being shipped back to England the next year and spent four years at Newcastle, where he never quite got back to his full strength. Then the biggest turn of all: in 2009, he signed for Man United. Bloody United of all people. Almost certainly just a way for Fergie to wind up his rivals, Owen was again stuck on the bench (when he actually got taken along to matches) and rarely made an appearance, eventually winding up at Stoke where he managed one goal in eight appearances before giving up the ghost. Michael Owen tops this list because he's the quintessential player who lost it all as soon as he left Liverpool. He was rarely given a chance to play and, to be fair to him, when he did he usually acquitted himself well. He never again managed the success he did at Anfield, though, and with his traitorous decision to play for United he didn't win many fans over at the club which made him. If anybody regrets leaving Liverpool, we're willing to bet it's Owen.