Owen dismisses move to Swansea
England international and current free agent Michael Owen has revealed he has turned down the chance to join Swansea City on trial
"At this stage of my career I am not looking for clubs to take me on trial. People know exactly what I can offer" the former Manchester United striker wrote on Twitter.
"Not being disrespectful, but I can still bang them in at the top level. I proved that nearly every time I played for
Manchester United, still got a few years in me."
With his track record at the top level, it’s a major surprise that only Swansea City have been linked with a move for Owen so far this summer following his release from Old Trafford.
The forward’s career began with a bang at
Liverpool, scoring on debut against Wimbledon at the end of the 1996/97 Premier League season.
Owen would go on to become an Anfield idol, scoring 158 goals in all competitions before his exit in 2004. In that time, Owen helped the Reds to a famous cup treble, notching a vital brace in the 2-1 FA Cup final against
Arsenal as a particular highlight.
He was top scorer for the club in every season from 1998 onwards, but left for Real Madrid in an £8 million move after the sacking of manager Gerard Houllier and a spell on the bench under Rafa Benitez.
His time in the Spanish capital was spent largely on the bench, but
Owen found the net on a regular basis for Los Blancos, scoring 19 goals in 43 appearances, with just 15 of those as starts.
However, the arrival of Robinho and Julio Babtista signalled the end for Owen in La Liga after just a season, and he signed for
Newcastle the following summer for a fee in the region of £16.8 million.
Injuries would blight Owen’s spell at St. James’ Park however, with a thigh problem in pre-season training, a broken metatarsal against Spurs and anterior cruciate ligament damage on World Cup duty with England all hampering his first two seasons with the Toon.
Under Sam Allardyce, he missed spells of action because of a hernia operation and thigh strain, and would score his next goal for the club under a new manager in the shape of Kevin Keegan.
A calf strain would hamper his progress the following year, and it turned out to be a disastrous campaign for the Magpies, with Alan Shearer returning to the club as manager at the end of the season but failing to save them from relegation.
Owen’s contract at Newcastle was up, and after declining to sign a new deal, Sir Alex Ferguson came calling in a shock move to
Manchester United.
Taking the No.7 shirt vacated by Cristiano Ronaldo, the striker delivered in his debut season at Old Trafford, notably scoring the winner against Manchester City in a 4-3 classic, a hat-trick against Wolfsburg in the Champions League and the opening goal in the 2-1 League Cup final win against Aston Villa.
There were even calls for his inclusion in England’s 2010 World Cup squad, but the hamstring strain picked up at Wembley in that clash against the Villains put him out for the rest of the season, and ended his chances of playing in a sixth major international tournament.
With chances at a premium in the following seasons,
Owen was limited to chances in the League and FA Cup in the main, with groin and thigh problems affecting his chances of breaking into the league side further.
After three years of service for the Red Devils, the two parties parted company on good terms, and whilst the move might not have been exactly what Ferguson wanted, he got good value for no money.
And surely that same philosophy applies for a number of other Premier League clubs who need to bolster their attacking lines before the start of the campaign.
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