7 - Michael Owen Profile

Michael Owen (born 14 December 1979 in Chester) is an English professional association football player who plays as a striker for Manchester United.

The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. he progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997. In his first full season in the Premier League he finished as joint top scorer. He repeated the feat the following year and was Liverpool's top goal scorer from 1997–2004, in spite of a recurring hamstring injury. His first major club honours came in 2001 when Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or that year. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the English Premier League for Liverpool.

Owen moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in mid-2004 but was frequently used as a substitute. In spite of this, he scored 13 goals in La Liga and had the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. He returned to England the following season, joining Newcastle United for £16 million. He had a promising start to the 2005–06 season but injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. In the final year of his four year contract, Newcastle were relegated, and Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent.

Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time. His performance at the 1998 World Cup brought him to national and international prominence and he went on to appear, and score, in Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. He is the only player to ever have scored in four major tournaments for England. He played at the 2006 World Cup but suffered an injury which took him a year to recover from. Occasionally playing as captain, he is England's seventh most-capped player and has scored a national record of 26 competitive goals, with 40 in total from 89 appearances.

Owen's long injury absence after the 2006 World Cup resulted in a dispute between FIFA and The FA and Newcastle United, and eventually resulted in an unprecedented £10m compensation award to Newcastle, and brought changes to the compensation arrangements between 'club and country' regarding injuries sustained by contracted club players while on international duty.

On 3 July 2009, it was announced that Owen had signed a two-year deal with Premier League champions, Manchester United. Owen will become only the fifth footballer since the Second World War to played for both Manchester United and their rivals Liverpool. Owen had also been linked with Hull City, Stoke City, Everton, and Aston Villa, before signing for United, and he said that the approach from manager Alex Ferguson came from "out of the blue"

• Owen signs new Man Utd contract

  Sir Alex Ferguson has handed Michael Owen a one-year contract extension at Manchester United and says he will try to use him more next season.

• Fresh setback for Owen

  Manchester United striker Michael Owen faces a further few weeks on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury.

• Owen out for the season

  Michael Owen has been ruled out for the rest of the season, ending any slender hopes he had of making England's World Cup squad.

• Capello follows Owen's progress

  England manager Fabio Capello admits that he is still following Manchester United striker Michael Owen as he continues to plan his 23-man World Cup squad.

• Wolfsburg 1-3 Man Utd

  Michael Owen scored a famous hat-trick as Manchester United made light of their injury woes to record a memorable win over German champions Wolfsburg.

• Owen craves title success

  Michael Owen is desperate for Manchester United to claw Chelsea back in the title race to secure what would be his first Premier League winner's medal.

• Owen baffled by dodgy ratings

  Michael Owen vented his frustration after scoring in Manchester United's Carling Cup fourth-round win at Barnsley on Tuesday night.

• Fergie receives Owen boost

  Sir Alex Ferguson expects Michael Owen to be available for Manchester United's first game after the international break.

• Martins wary of Owen threat

  Obafemi Martins is hoping his former Newcastle United team-mate Michael Owen is not on song when Wolfsburg face Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League.

• Owen: Derby strike a career highlight

  Michael Owen admits his injury-time winner at Old Trafford against Manchester City will go down as one of the highlights of his career.