Michael Owen has been linked with Everton over a potential free transfer to Goodison Park. We ask, do Everton fans want to sign the former Liverpool and England striker?
Everton have already strengthened their attacking options this summer after re-signing midfielder Steven Pienaar from Tottenham and signing strikers Steven Naismith, formerly of Glasgow Rangers and Kevin Mirallas from Olympiacos. The Toffees will also be hoping Nikica Jelavic will carry on from where he left of last season, since joining the club in January, the Croation scored an impressive nine goals in thirteen Premier League appearances.
So do Everton need Michael Owen? If the 32-year-old does seal a move to the club he supported as a boy, he would be unlikely to be first choice for manager David Moyes whose strikers also include Nigerian, Victor Anichebe.
Nobody needs telling that Michael Owen made his name at Liverpool – the most prolific spell of his career so a move to Everton would therefore be seen as controversial by most. Owen would become the ninth player to have played for Liverpool then Everton and the 20th to have played for both.
Owen scored on his Premier League debut for Liverpool in May of 1997 and the following season, he finished as the league’s joint-top scorer and was named the PFA Young Player of the Year. What followed was the arrival of Owen on the world stage as he took the 1998 World Cup in France by storm with goals against Romania and then, obviously, Argentina.
In 1999, Owen injured his hamstring – an injury which turn out to be an recurring one throughout his Liverpool career. Although the striker had to put up with these niggling injuries which resulted in him missing a lot of game time, he was always amongst the goals at Anfield. In 2001, Owen helped Liverpool to one of their most successful ever seasons as they won the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup. Owen will always be remembered for his two late goals against Arsenal at the Millennnium Stadium in Cardiff that year as Liverpool came from behind to beat the Gunners in the FA Cup final. Later that same year, Owen would go on to score a hat-trick against Germany in Munich as the Three Lions enjoyed a 5-1 thrashing of their old rivals.
The goals continued at Liverpool but in 2004 and after scoring a total of 158 for the club, after the sacking of manager Gerard Houllier, Owen joined Spanish giants Real Madrid for £8 million. His career at the Bernabeu was short-lived and will be always remembered as a move which never worked out for Owen and although that statement reads true, after a slow start to his time in Madrid, he did find his goal-scoring boots and finished with La Liga’s best goals to minutes played ratio with a total of fourteen goals.
Owen returned to England a year as Newcastle United signed him for a club record fee of £16 million – Everton were then said to have been interested in signing him but refused to pay the price Real Madrid were asking for. After an injury-hit four seasons at Newcastle, Owen surprisingly joined Man United on a free and signed a two year pay-as-you-play deal, the player himself the call from Sir Alex Ferguson came completely out of the blue.
An injury-time winner in the Manchester derby and a Champions League hat-trick were the highlights of Owen’s first season at Old Trafford before injury cut his season short in March. Although he would pick up enough Premier League appearances to claim a medal in United’s championship winning season of 2010-11, injury continued to interrupt Owen’s time as a Red Devil and after more of the same, he was released by the club in May and has been looking for new employers since.
Stoke City looked to be in pole position to sign the forward but now it looks like he could be on his way to Goodison Park, but with the firepower already in Everton’s rank, do they need him? Would it be fair to say, Michael Owen needs Everton and not the other way round?
Keep him fit and you have a natural goal-scorer in Owen, Evertonians, what do you think?
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