I know what youre thinking - how could a player who had scored 158 goals in 297 appearances for the club, including winning goals in an FA Cup final, and been awarded the Ballon dOr in 2001 be regarded as a dodged bullet? Liverpool supporters had vented their fury at allowing their prized asset to slip through their fingers the previous summer, so when the club entered the market to bring him back from Real Madrid, surely it would have made sense for all parties? When the club ultimately lost out to Newcastle in the race for his signature, having refused to match their £17 million offer, disappointment was rife, no matter how widely Owen grinned upon his veiling at St. James Park. Rafa Benitez will probably thank his lucky stars that it was Newcastle who inherited the strife and hassle that the England no.9 would ultimately bring. While Owen probably wouldnt have sustained that metatarsal injury had he been at Anfield, he almost certainly would still have picked up that knee injury against Sweden during the 2006 World Cup which sidelined him for nearly a year. At a cost of £17 million and on a salary of £105 p/wk, Newcastles captain appeared just 79 times for the club during his four seasons with the club, and almost single-handedly drove them to financial ruin. Despite his connections to the club that unearthed him as a teenager, Liverpool could have done without that needless strife.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
