M.Owen contemplates retirement
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Owen contemplates retirement
Manchester United hitman Michael Owen has revealed he may retire from football if the club does not offer him a new deal.
The 30-year-old will be out of contract in the summer and, with the likes of youngsters Javier Hernandez and Federico Macheda know established marksmen at the club, he recognises there is no guarantee boss Sir Alex Ferguson will offer him a new contract.
The former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Newcastle forward has struggled with injuries since he joined United at the start of last season and has so far failed to establish himself in the first team.
However, Owen has publicly declared he would rather stay as a bit-part player at United than move to a lesser club with lesser ambitions. If the club no longer requires his services then Owen has hinted he will quit football.
Owen told The Sun: "I would honestly love to stay but you will have to ask the manager about the long term. I could score at this level for many years and would love it to be at a top club like United.
"Whether I would want to be dropping down to a poorer Premier League team, I don't know. Yes I could score goals but I would probably get less opportunities and less enjoyment.
"I just don't feel my game is suited to a team that is really struggling. I won't drop down leagues."click-manchester.com
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Manchester United's Michael Owen will be out for another four weeks because of a hamstring problem. Photograph: Mike Egerton/Empics Sport
Michael Owen has said he wants to remain at Manchester United despite the frustrations of being limited to only six starts in the Premier League since joining the club from Newcastle United last year. In an interview with The Guardian, Owen maintains he is happy to fight for his place at Old Trafford and is not planning to move elsewhere for regular football in the January transfer window.
Gérard Houllier, once his manager at Liverpool, has been contemplating trying to recruit him for Aston Villa, but Owen says he is not tempted to start talking to potential buyers, even though his contract expires at the end of the season and there have been no indications from Old Trafford about whether he will be offered new terms.
"I never thought I would start every game when I joined the club and I have never complained about anything," he says. "I signed a two-year contract, I'm only 60% into that and hopefully we will talk [about extending it] before the end of the season."
Owen has started only 14 games in all competitions for United in 16 months at the club and not once been selected by Sir Alex Ferguson for a Premier League match against a top-eight side. He goes on to speak about his long history of injury problems, admitting that he peaked as a footballer when he was only 18.
Now 30, he appears to have slipped to fifth-choice striker at Old Trafford behind Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Javier Hernández and even the 19-year-old Federico Macheda. "I am not going to kid myself because I know that, if I were fit and scored a hat-trick in the next two or three games, Wayne would still come back into the team when he is fit again. I know I am not as good as him. Maybe 10 years ago you could argue I was – but not now.
Owen's bad run of injuries has been compounded by a hamstring problem and the striker will miss the next four weeks.
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time to rest those legs, and keep replaying those highlights, esp the one he scored vs argies.. :)