The former Manchester United striker has been strongly linked with a move to Stoke City
Ask any Manchester United fan about Michael Owen’s release, and the most likely response is a shrug of the shoulders.
The striker made just one league appearance last season, as a substitute on the final day away at Sunderland.
His injury record led to this, and Stoke look to be rightly wary of ending up with an expensive physio bill. The latest report has suggested City are ready to offer a pay-as-you play deal.
For Owen, a 32-year-old, the same age as Steven Gerrard, his fall from grace is a sad state of affairs.
Yet many have questioned Owen’s motivation to re-ascend the football peak, his main love nowadays by and far appears to be horse racing, and it presently looks like the striker is simply winding down the final years until his retirement.
This is exactly what Stoke City have to be wary of. Last season Tony Pulis signed Jonathan Woodgate, now 32, a defender whose injury record is as bad as Owen’s.
The defender started reasonably well enough for Stoke, but did not play in the Premier League after mid-February. He too is on a pay-as-you play deal.
On the face of it there may be minimal risk to Stoke, but with the league’s 25 man squad rule, if both Owen and Woodgate suffer predictable lengthy time on the treatment table, their selection is immediately shortened to 23.
You can argue this with a number of players of course, but Owen’s record means Stoke must be wary. Sir Alex Ferguson has always praised his on-pitch finishing abilities, and to his credit whenever he appeared for United he largely looked sharp.
Whether the pro’s outweigh the con’s is another matter. Is this the direction Pulis wants to be taking his squad?
Would he be better off going for a younger striker with a lot to prove? A Jordan Rhodes for example. Sure he would cost millions, and Owen on a free may be tough to pass up, but Stoke must look at the long term picture.
If Owen can have an injury free season it could be a masterstroke, but the chances of that are slim. The signing is a gamble, and may divide fans, and if it goes through, only 12 months on we will be able to determine whether it was a bad move or not.
We hope purely from a football purist’s point of view that a player who once set the world alight in the way Owen did as a teenager can bounce back and enjoy an Indian summer. The move he makes this summer, to Stoke or elsewhere, could be his last chance.
At United the competition for places meant that the times he actually was fit, football was rarely guaranteed, the chance of more regular action may just see him rekindle his passion for the game.
Would Owen be a good or bad signing for Stoke?
image: © jad99
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