Graphic: how
Michael Owen compares with Carlos Tevez
In football’s world of free spending, it could only have been Fergie who has
bucked the trend. Frustrated by his attempts to purchase what he required at
the boutiques of European footballing chic, the Manchester United manager
has come home, wallet still bulging, and done his business at
Poundstretcher. For many, he will have stretched credulity, too, with the
signature of Michael Owen.
One thing is certain. While opinion is not so much divided as polarised on
whether this is evidence of the Manchester United manager’s intuitive genius
still flourishing or those finely honed instincts finally waning, the player
at the centre of the debate looked mightily pleased with himself when
emerging from Manchester’s Bridgewater Hospital on Friday. It was an
expression that contrasted vividly with the stoical mask he wore as
conflicting fortunes attended him when the certainty of relegation seeped
through his every pore in those final weeks at Newcastle United.
Owen sounded less like one of English football’s finest and more like a man
relocated under a witness protection scheme when he declared: “I’d like to
start the season with a bang as it will help me settle into my new career
and life.” Behind him lie four years of financial reward but professional
penury at St James’ Park, during which he never gained acceptance as an
adopted Geordie. In front of him lies a new beginning. Finally, the
arch-predator has arrived at the club that many believed should have always
been his destiny, even if, as some contend, it is five years too late.
As United fans pondered at the start of last week over what talent may be
arriving to compensate for the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez,
they won’t have had in mind Ferguson’s summer intake thus far. When they
heard mention of the word Valencia, they possibly thought it meant that
club’s international striker David Villa would be joining them; it turned
out to be Antonio Valencia, the winger from Wigan, who, for all his pace,
scored seven league goals in three seasons. Ronaldo hit 66 in the same
period.
And now Owen. “I had an idea the manager still thought I had something,” he
said in an interview with MUTV. “So I clung to the hope he would ask me to
play for him one day. I probably had a poor spell at Newcastle but prior to
that, my career was very good and I’m sure a top club like this can reignite
my career. Hopefully I can score goals and help the team to more success.”
Whatever the perception of those in the northeast of Owen’s time at Newcastle,
he will readily quote statistics at his detractors. He scored 26 goals in 71
appearances at Newcastle; 13 in 35 at Real Madrid (where, despite too often
being relegated to substitute, he boasted the highest ratio of goals for
minutes played); 118 in 216 Liverpool appearances and for England 40 in 89
appearances. We should also remember that Owen needs only nine goals to
equal Sir Bobby Charlton’s all-time England scoring record.
There is a method in Ferguson’s disregard for the logic that warned off some
of his managerial counterparts. At worst, even if it all goes
Shevchenko-shaped, the Scot will be viewed as having given a player once
regarded as Old Faithful in terms of his goal-scoring consistency the chance
to gush once more.
If those stringent medicals failed to detect the true extent of Owen’s
physical limitations, the parties can ultimately shake hands and part
without rancour. Under Owen’s two-year contract, with an option for a third,
on a no-play-only-basic-fee arrangement, there are no losers. The real
examination, though, is yet to come; the treadmill of expectation.
It comes no greater for a man attempting to restore a reputation at Old
Trafford under the scrutiny of 70,000-plus pairs of eyes. Sceptics suggest
Owen will have to accept the billing of a “Tuesday night turn”; that Carling
Cups and early rounds of the Champions League will represent his defined
casting in the Theatre of Dreams.
Like Tevez before him, Owen will not be content with mere bench-warming. Even
as a £30,000-a-week bargain he will not dutifully accept a role of “impact”
striker. His pride would not allow it and he believes that with England’s
current forward power including Emile Heskey, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Peter
Crouch, Jermain Defoe and Carlton Cole, he can still be part of Fabio
Capello’s plans for South Africa. “If I am fit and playing well then I have
got a better chance of getting back into the England squad,” he said
yesterday. “If I play well then I’d like to think I can force my way back
in. I have 89 caps and it would be great to add to that. There is a burning
desire to do well for whatever team I play for.”
Capello will first wish to see what Owen can contribute to United’s continued
prosperity. Ferguson may yet lure one of Europe’s striking elite to Old
Trafford. Somebody, perhaps, such as Internazionale’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
That would suit Owen, who performs at his best in tandem with a target man
of physical presence. In the absence of such an individual — the languid
Dimitar Berbatov scarcely fits that category — much will depend on Owen’s
link-up with Wayne Rooney. They were not the most compatible at
international level, but between them, with Rooney expected to revel in a
central role, the pair must compensate on the scoresheet for the loss of
Ronaldo. That, essentially, is what Ferguson will demand from Owen, a
recovery of the predatory nature that all but deserted him towards the end
at St James’ Park.
While Owen will welcome being released from the demands of being regarded as a
figure of potential salvation, the onus on him to contribute to the cause at
Old Trafford will, if anything, be even heavier, but he will be confident
that he has the talent to deliver.
Not so long ago — in fact, immediately after the friendly against Brazil in
2007, Owen’s reappearance for England that followed injury in the 2006 World
Cup — he retorted that it was “pathetic” to ask whether he still had goals
in him. That was an astonishingly un-Owen-like response from a character who
hitherto had never knowingly uttered a word out of turn. It was also
confirmation of his belief in his prowess at the highest level, which
extends to this day. A belief into which Ferguson, in his wisdom, has
tapped.
You're never too old
Sir Alex Ferguson has a knack of picking winners when signing players past
their sell-by date:
Teddy Sheringham Aged 31 when United paid Spurs £3.5m. Won PL 1999,
2000, 2001, CL 1999, FA Cup 1999. Henrik Larsson Aged 35 when signed a
three-month loan from Helsingborgs. Won PL 2007.
Laurent Blanc Free transfer signing aged 35. Won PL 2003.
Henning Berg He was 29 two weeks after signing from Blackburn for £5m.
Won PL 1999 and 2000, CL 1999, FA Cup 1999.
