Seven years ago yesterday Michael Owen was crowned European Footballer of the Year. Today, with his career at a crossroads, Paul Joyce asks if Rafa Benitez should let bygones be bygones.
IT was designed to nip in the bud any further enquiries, but Rafa Benitez’s blunt insistence at the start of this month that he was not interested in signing Michael Owen succeeded only in raising one more question: Why?
Why, when missed chances have been a recurring lament this season, would Liverpool not consider pepping up their title charge with a player whose happy knack of scoring goals remains undimmed?
Why, when money is tight, would the prospect of bringing a proven talent back to the club at a knockdown price not be worth further investigation?
Owen’s prevarication over a contract at Newcastle has become an issue for debate between managers and chairmen at Everton, Manchester City and numerous other Premier League clubs.
Yet at Anfield the striker’s name is almost taboo – it is that of another old boy, Wigan’s Emile Heskey, which continues to keep the rumour mill busy.
“It is clear that we will not be signing Michael Owen,” said Benitez in the aftermath of the game with West Ham on December 1 when asked about the 29-year-old’s situation.
If there was one match during Liverpool’s recent patchy run of form that screamed out for a forward capable of dispatching just one of several chances, it was that goalless stalemate.
Perceived wisdom in the red half of Merseyside has it that the only thing preventing Liverpool from pulling clear of their rivals has been the absence of Fernando Torres.
Should that belief hold true, then a move for Owen would provide the perfect substitute in more ways than one if the Spaniard’s hamstrings suffer further pulls, tears and strains once he completes his recovery from his third such injury of the campaign.
Without Torres in the side, Liverpool do not boast the same threat largely because they do not possess anyone else who can stretch defences with his jet-heeled pace.
Owen would remedy that, while a record of nine goals in 10 starts this season for Newcastle suggests Sir Alex Ferguson and Luiz Felipe Scolari would shrink at the thought of that sort of firepower suddenly being added to Benitez’s armoury.
The last time that the championship was deposited in the Anfield trophy cabinet in 1990, it took an inspirational signing by Kenny Dalglish to keep the chasing pack at bay.
Ronnie Rosenthal may be for ever remembered for a glaring miss at Villa Park, but seven goals in the final eight matches of the season ensured his name in Mersey folklore for very different reasons.
For all Newcastle boss Joe Kinnear’s protestations that Owen will see out the final months of his contract at St James’ Park, Benitez has an opportunity to pull off a similar masterstroke – or, at the very least, explore doing so.
There is, of course, history between Owen and Liverpool that stretches beyond the 158 goals he plundered in 297 games and, in particular, with Benitez.
The Spaniard’s first pre-season tour in charge in the summer of 2004 was scarred by constant questions about the future of Owen, who had been allowed to run his contract down towards its final year.
Owen repeatedly intimated he would sign a new deal, but merely omitted to say who it would be with. A move to Real Madrid on the very eve of the season has not been forgotten by Benitez, or forgiven.
Even then, had Owen held his nerve after a miserable season in Spain, he might already be wearing a Liverpool shirt.
Yet, so desperate was the forward for first-team football in order to ensure his place with England at the World Cup in 2006, he was prepared to indulge Newcastle.
A £16 million bid from them was far beyond what Liverpool were prepared to pay, especially given they had received just £8m and Antonio Nunez in the first place.
With his side top of the table and eyeing a first title success in almost two decades, Benitez should not necessarily let past events cloud his judgments.
Clearly, the cons of bringing Owen back relate to his financial demands, his fitness and how he would cope with not being first choice.
On the latter, his unflinching self-belief means that he would no doubt back himself to make such an impact as a substitute that the clamour for a starting role would be hard to ignore.
Money need not become an issue. Benitez can test just how much Owen would want to come back by offering him a £65,000-a-week, take-it-or-leave-it deal, for example. A fair wage given the player’s age and recent fitness levels.
He could even give Owen a taste of his own medicine by signing him and getting rid of him again in six months.
But maybe Benitez would do so with the Premier League title the latest shimmering addition to his impressive CV.
