One unexpected transfer that took place last Summer was that of Michael Owen, the often injured striker from Newcastle United who made the move to the Red Devils.
Alex Ferguson’s decisions left many experts and fans scratching their heads. With Cristiano Ronaldo gone, most people expected that a current soccer great would appear in the latest Manchester United soccer apparel to replace him. however, Manchester United got Luis Valencia from Wigan and Michael Owen. A player who for the past five years has been beset by injury problem after injury problem and who was not only struggling for fitness, but form too. On top of this is the fact he is a former Liverpool player. The transfer did not go down as one of the most popular transfers amongst Manchester United fans.
When the finer details of the agreement were released it became clear that once again, the shrewd Scot had been canny. Michael Owen is signed on a pay if you play contract at Manchester United and he was intended to be used from the bench. He did not have to hold the whole team up with his striking abilities, he is being used from the bench when the team needs him.
Not the best start Owen would have wanted at Manchester United, only featuring in a few games as a late substitute. However his role in the team seemed apparent when he was called in on the Manchester United derby game against Manchester City scoring the last minute winning goal. This goal was expected to kick start more involvement from Owen in the team, their was even talk about a place in the England soccer team if he could find consistent goals.
However since then, it hasn’t really worked out for Owen. A further two goals since has brought his tally to four this season in eighteen games and while Owen is at pains to point out that the statistics do not tell the whole story (the majority of his appearances have been as a substitute), there seems to be a growing feeling that the Owen experiment may not have a long term future.
It seems highly unlikely that Owen will make it back onto the England squad. Fabio Capello has repeatedly reiterated the need for players to be fit and playing regularly in order to play.Over the past few years Owen has managed to be neither of these things. However it should be noted here that Capello doesn’t seem to extend this mantra to other England strikers, Emile Heskey it seems is a shoe-in in every squad, regardless of whether he plays for Aston Villa or not.
The high point of the experiment so far has been Owen’s last minute goal against City. It is hard to see that Sir Alex will want it to continue much beyond the current season unless the England striker can find form and goals in greater abundance and force his way into the managers reckoning, much in the way youngster Darron Gibson is doing. It’s up to Owen to prove he still has the fitness and ability to stay in the team, at the moment however, it seems likely that Sir Alex Ferguson’s gamble, in the long run, may not pay off.
