With much speculation on where the £80m received from the sale of Ronaldo would go, Sir Alex Ferguson moved quickly to spend just £0m to acquire Michael Owen on a free transfer. At 29, Owen’s career is moving towards its final seasons, but is he the ready-made poacher that Man Utd have lacked since the loss of Ruud van Nistelrooy?
With the rumoured £30k basic wage package with bonuses paid out on games played and goals scored, Owen has taken a massive pay cut from his £110k a week Newcastle income and turned down more regular opportunities of football for Everton, Stoke or Hull to play at Utd. Owen would not of thought twice about joining Everton if Sir Alex hadn’t called him up, because he knows his best days are gone and given the chance of playing in the UEFA Cup or being managed by a spray tan (insert any expletive here) his choice was made for him. After signing for Utd he couldn’t stop smiling in disbelief that he has another shot at the big time.
I’ve read a lot of opinions on whether Owen can be a success at Man Utd. One which made me really sit up and take notice was that of Sky Sports’ Graham Souness. Souness was an overrated manager who failed miserably at each club he joined and then went into punditry where he continues to give substandard and often ill-informed opinions on players and tactics. His opinions on players over the years have been consistently poor from his time at Southampton where he notoriously signed George Weah’s supposed cousin Ali Dia, who turned out to have the footballing brain of a duck-billed platypus married with the footballing ability of a ring-tailed lemur. He signed Jean Alain Boumsong and partnered him with Titus Bramble to create the worst centre-back partnership in Premiership history (including anyone who played alongside Craig Short) and brought to the club the wing wizardry of Albert Luque who spectacularly failed at Newcastle coming in with a hefty price tag, then a doing a sort of Abracadabra and presenting the fans with a toy from a McDonalds happy meal. At Blackburn and Newcastle his alienation of players pushed out some of the better talents and left the clubs in disrepute. After the loss of Keegan recently he put his name forward to the Newcastle job to which the club said “thanks but no thanks” by saying absolutely nothing.
I’ve lost the point of this…Owen.
Souness believes if Owen stays fit he will be top scorer in the league replacing the goals that Cristiano Ronaldo got. That is factual evidence that Owen can only fail. Souness also believes Tim Henman can still win Wimbledon, Gary Glitter’s music may have a resurgence and Gordon Brown may be in work this time next year.
Utd fans will say Fergie is not a stupid man; he is a wily cat (Thundercats hooo!) who knows the best to get out of ageing and forgotten players. He did this with Henrik Larsson. I would say wily cats get old and lose their marbles. I would say they forget Laurent Blanc. Fergie does make mistakes in the transfer market regularly but surely going into the season gambling on both Valencia and Owen to bring in goals is a dangerous game which could backfire catastrophically. My instant view is that there is more to this situation than just Fergie’s belief in Owen. Maybe the Glazers put there foot down and limited the transfer fund on old red nose taking back some of the funds to clear the titanic debts underwritten. I wouldn’t put it past another player to come out at Utd before the end of the window, unless Tosic, Nani or the new guy Obertan can step up to the plate. Remember this FACT. Man Utd lost Ronaldo and Tevez because they didn’t want to play at the club. Man Utd wanted Benzema and Ribery but neither wanted to play at the club. Man Utd got an overpriced winger from Wigan who had one good season at a club even David Batty would have stood out at, an unknown French winger who had an unremarkable season at FC Loirent who was surplus to requirements at Bordeaux and mister brand values himself, Michael Owen.
In no way am I slating Owen’s past. He just peaked at an early age and has lost his way. If Fergie can set him back on the road then he may score double figures in the Premiership and prove me wrong. But he won’t.
It will be interesting to see the reception he gets at Anfield, if he is fit.
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