Michael Owen: Could He Yet Prove to Be the Signing of the Year?

Michael Owen's transfer to Manchester United in the summer spawned almost as many column inches as Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid—and it was certainly more of a surprise.

Just when almost everybody was getting ready to consign the former "boy wonder" to the soccer scrapheap, Sir Alex Ferguson decided that this particular free transfer was a risk worth taking—and the whole world sat up and took notice.

Things had not gone well for Owen for quite a while—Paul Merson memorably quipped that Owen's goal drought had lasted so long that they would soon be having charity pop concerts for him.  People thought that his time at Real Madrid had been a flop despite scoring 13 goals at the best "goal per minute" rate in La Liga that year.

And those same people were certainly convinced that the Michael Owen who made fleeting appearances for Newcastle United was not the player they remembered running away from Argentine defenders with such wonderful results a few years before.

Those really were golden years for Michael Owen.   After scoring on his debut for Liverpool in a game against Wimbledon in 1997, still seven months short of his 18th birthday, he went from strength to strength.  

His pace and his goal scoring instincts brought him phenomenal success.  People will always talk of the "Michael Owen Cup Final" after his two late goals won the trophy for Liverpool against Arsenal in 2001—the year in which he was named World Soccer Player of the Year; still the only Englishman to win the award.

He's also been BBC Sports' Personality of the Year, European Footballer of the Year and scored in four of football's biggest derby games—Liverpool and Everton, Newcastle and Sunderland, Manchester United and City and Real Madrid and Barcelona.  

All right the last one isn't really a derby, but you try telling that to supporters of those two teams!  More importantly to English football followers, though, was the hat-trick he put past Oliver Kahn in the 5-1 victory that fooled us all into thinking we'd win the World Cup.

Off the pitch, devoted family man Michael has become famous for buying his extended family a whole street of houses, loving his horses and learning to be a helicopter pilot.

On the pitch, injuries have certainly slowed Michael down, though.  Metatarsals, cruciate ligaments, and a succession of irritating setbacks all seemed to conspire against him, especially during his time at Newcastle.   It looked to most people as if the man who had scored 146 goals in English club football and 40 for his country was going to have to accept that his days at the very top were behind him.

But now just ask Liverpool supporters if they would like to see Michael Owen coming off the bench to try and snatch them a winner during injury time rather than doing it for the team at the other end of the East Lancs Road.   

Who knows, many more last minute winners and Michael could even yet persuade the England manager that he would be worth taking to South Africa to perform the same trick in the World Cup finals.

See for Michael Owen for yourself by reserving tickets for Manchester United fixtures at Old Trafford. Supplied by an official ticket agent for the club, packages include hotel accommodation.