Owen: Has joined Manchester United
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United taking the Michael
TEAMtalk reflects on Manchester United's signing of Michael Owen - and believes few signings will raise as many eyebrows this summer.
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Few new signings have been received with such suspicion and such trepidation.
Michael Owen's arrival at Old Trafford may be unfortunate timing, or it may simply be Sir Alex Ferguson indulging in a spot of bargain-hunting, but for many Manchester United fans these are worrying times.
Any manager would have struggled to fill the gaps left by the departures of Cristiano Ronaldo, the best footballer in the world bar none, and the irrepressible Carlos Tevez.
Ferguson's first move in the transfer market, for Wigan's Antonio Valencia is understandable: here is a fast, powerful winger with Premier League experience, even if he is not close to being in the same league as Ronaldo.
Yet the United manager's next move, for Owen, is nothing less than baffling. There is one reason the 29-year-old is available on a free transfer: virtually nobody else wants him, and for United to have beaten mighty Hull to his signature is no cause to break open the bubbly.
This is the player former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd said he would "carry back to Liverpool", such was Owen's lack of impact in the north-east.
Maybe Ferguson believes that once a great goalscorer - as Owen undoubtedly was - always a great goalscorer, and that the free transfer makes this a gamble worth taking, with the £80million fee for Ronaldo being left to bring in other top names.
The suspicion and fear of many fans though is that the pursuit of Owen hides a more sinister development: that the Glazer family who own the club are severely limiting spending in order to service the payments on their huge debt, now standing at a staggering £649.4million.
Red Football, the parent company of United and its various offshoots, returned a loss of £44.8million last year - the year they won the Champions League - and have annual interest payments of £69million.
Put it another way, those losses plus Valencia's transfer fee come to £60million. That only leaves £20million from Ronaldo's sale remaining, and the Glazers will be mindful of the fact that there will be no such mega sale next year.
It is possible that Owen may do a job for United, perhaps as a fourth-choice striker filling in for absentees, and he would no doubt settle for that in return for being at a top club with a healthy pay cheque.
But if Ferguson truly believes he can relight the fire in Owen's belly and rejuvenate a man who became tired and old before his time then maybe the old maestro is losing his touch.
This is not a similar masterstroke to the one Ferguson pulled off in 2007 when he snapped up Henrik Larsson, for he was in wonderful shape, had not long finished playing for Barcelona and is still playing international football for Sweden.
Owen's pace has been deserting him year by year, injury by injury, and his confidence and sharpness have suffered.
He has continued to stutter on at Newcastle, but at international level Fabio Capello has made it clear he does not fancy him.
Perhaps the most troubling issue ahead for United will relate to Wayne Rooney, who given his struggles in the past to form an effective partnership with Owen for England is unlikely to be popping the champagne corks.
Rooney did not score a competitive goal for England from June 2004 until October 2007, Owen's penultimate competitive international fixture. By contrast, in this current World Cup qualifying campaign Rooney has scored nine goals in eight games.
Owen barely figured on the scoresheet when Rooney was playing either and his last three competitive England goals all came when Rooney was unavailable.
Both players have looked far more comfortable alongside a partner such as Emile Heskey - a striker whom it would have been far more sensible for Ferguson to buy from the bargain basement.
Fergie will no doubt relish the chance to prove his doubters wrong, and he may yet do that, but what is much more important is whether Owen's signing signals the start of a new era of austerity at United.
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Your Comments
total_football
"If he goes around wearing a top hat and tails in his spare time then it is quite obvious that the money has gone to his head and he is a pillock!! Mind you, if i had that sort of money, i would probably be doing the same. Concentrate on your football rather than mincing around dressed as a Victorian gentleman!!"
findmepeterpan (Manchester United fan)
"Writng off UTD tut tut. Just because we sell one player (Ronaldo) you think it's all gonna go to pot.The irrepressible Tevez? Yep what a huge part he had to play last year when we were chasing 5 trophies....in the carling cup maybe! When fit Owen is better. Also you seem to also forget the fact that for 10 years or so pre Ronaldo...Utd were brilliant and with Ronaldo Utd were still brilliant and post Ronaldo things will remain the same, but how you can say that a team which has the likes of Rooney, Berbatov, Owen, Ferdinand, Vidic, Hargreaves, Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Valencia as well as all the young up and coming players we have like rafael, fabio, macheda, ljajic, tosic, wellbeck, evans, foster etc are now in decline and bascially gonna be rubbish kinda baffles me. I don't think we are gonna win the Champions League but the premiership should be ours coz our team is still better than both Chelsea's (only just) and Liverpool's and with £80 million in the bank which the club has publicly said is there to spend our team is only gonna get stronger. I don't usually write on these forums but i had to for this coz thats the biggest pile of crap i've heard so far.
Peace and Love! "
ToonRMe (Newcastle United fan)
"Man Utd fans are so fickle, Ronaldo was a god then left for BIG spending Madrid and suddenly they could not wait to see the back of him. The reverse is true now with the mercenary that is Owen."
United_Devil (Manchester United fan)
"Put it this way the funding of the negative debt that the Glazers have heeped on the club means nothing, if a club like United goes bust, there will be an army of foreign investors waiting to buy United and its brand, its not like a Leeds situation, how many people would buy this club. As for the signing of Owen, i think this article is harsh, i'd rather have a free Michael Owen than a hardworking Tevez that is £25.5million that only scored 8 goals or so, if want a player like Tevez it shouldn't be in the striker position but in the Midfield position where it was clearly shown in the CL final, that United lacked any real energy or class in Midfield, the acquisition of Valencia, I think will invoke a new proposition of good attacking football, that will enable strikers to score goals instead of the reliance on C.Ronaldo to come up trumps every game. And I really do not think that Liverpool will be challenging for the Premiership next with signings like Glen Johnson, a right back will not win anything for a club. Chelsea's ageing squad, and Arsenals impotent youngsters failing to achieve what their supposed potential is supposed to attain..what does Man Utd have to worry about next year."
busby_way (Manchester United fan)
"Red Football's "losses" are a result of a goodwill (acquisition) write-off. It is an accounting technicality to reflect market value and value paid for shares. In terms of cash and trading position, the company is returning a healthy profit. I don't know whether the author of this article is a simpleton, or simply doesn't understand finance, but it is irresposnible for teamTalk to put up such a poorly researched piece of "journalism". The technical points on Owen are fair enough."
BruneiScholes (Manchester United fan)
"Owen sure do shows a lot of interest and enthusiasm to start playing alondside all the quality players of Man Utd.Alongside Rooney,Giggs,berbatov and Carrick..At the same time to improve his partnership with England players Of Man Utd especially Rooney,his fellow England striker.This is also going to be Owen's platform to prove to Capello that he still got the game and still one of the striker that defenders will have trouble to deal with.."
ks_manu (Manchester United fan)
"well that is a rather pessimistic view. The transfer window has plenty of time left yet. How many times have we heard fergie is losing his touch only to prove every1 wrong. Owen is not a gamble, if he doesnt show he can still cut it he wil be gone in 2 years. No fee to pay and an average wage. I dont know to much about the financial ins and outs of Manchester United so I would rather just wait till the start of the season b4 i write any1 off"
FaroeUnited (Manchester United fan)
"If Benzema would've wanted to join, United had spent 30 mil on him. There is money to spend."
chrls79 (Manchester United fan)
"we need one more out & out proven clinical world class striker!!!..cant see berbatov(more as a link man),Rooney & owen scoring that many goals(barring the injuries)!!!...w all due respect!!!...GGMU4LIFE!!.."
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