Is Michael Owen on his way to Villa?
With Villa linked with Owen pretty heavily over the last 6 months, will the signing of his old Liverpool and England strike partner open the door for him to come down to the Midlands too?
Michael Owen’s career has been extremely successful, having won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup with Liverpool and he has won PFA Young Player of the Year, BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Premier League top scorer and the Ballon D’Or, as well as netting 40 goals for his country. But his current venture leaves him sitting just 2 points off the bottom of the table with Newcastle.
Owen’s time with Newcastle has been fraught with injuries and troubles, so drawing a curtain on his spell there may well be welcomed with open arms by the player. Owen has spent large amounts of time injured whilst at the Toon, which has affected his form and, with average supply to him when he is on the field, he hasn’t ever found that magic touch he had with Liverpool and England in his glory days. Could the option of partnering Emile Heskey be too tempting to resist for Owen?
Newcastle are going through difficult times off the field too, with the ownership unrest still far from resolved, so with our beloved new ownership regime going superbly and the wins flooding in, Villa must seem like a great place to move to.
Michael Owen has always been a fan of good supply, his game thrives on it. Owen isn’t your play-deep kind of striker, preferring to hang on the last man and run on to through balls, which is why he developed such a good partnership with Emile Heskey. The opportunity to be fed balls from Gareth Barry (still the master of the insightful pass), Ashley Young (cross king), James Milner (again) and Stiliyan Petrov (incisive) must be right at the top of Owen’s wishlist.
The Gaffer
But what about O’Neill? MON is a fan of Owen, but he will NOT be ripped off for him. So with Owen turning 30 this year and always not too far from the phsyio table, would Newcastle rather hold onto him than accept paltry sum he would fetch.
His contract with the Magpies expires at the end of this season, making him a free agent, and he has stated that he will not speak to any clubs during this transfer window, so the most likely outcome seems to be that he will come to us on a free in the summer. It won’t make him popular in the north east, after costing them £16m and spending half his contract injured, but he scored almost 1-in-2 for them, finding the net 26 times in 61 games.
O’Neill spoke to the Sun about this possibility:
“I’m not saying that I will move for Owen in the summer, I’ve not looked at anything at that remote a distance, but that’s not to say Michael Owen is not a terrific player. We wait to see.
“We want to try and compete at this level but what’s happening in the future? I have no idea.”
And showing that dry sense of humour of O’Neill’s that we love:
“Anything is possible. Kaka is a possibility!”
Sounds good. Next season we will be testing a new formation of 4-1-5, with Agbon, Carew, Heskey, Owen and Kaka up front!!
Comments
3 Comments on Is Michael Owen on his way to Villa?
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aron on
Sat, 24th Jan 2009 10:34
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Matt on
Sat, 24th Jan 2009 12:05
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richard owen on
Sat, 24th Jan 2009 16:15
Carew, gabby, heskey and owen what a strikeforce that would be. Might have to use some rotation there. Would love owen at the villa but his wages are a problem, but o’neill is the master of persuasion. Nobody seems to mention O.Martins who i’d prefer, maybe folks know something that i don’t. But i’m sure newcastle would accept a highish bid
Would be a great signing, I know he has injuries but look at how well (up ntill yesterday!!) Laursen was doing! Think that would be our front men sorted!!
I would love to see Owen partnering with Heskey. They were a great duo in Liverpool and also in England. cahyoo!
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