For a man whose public utterances long seemed to be the
definition of blandness, Michael Owen has a remarkable gift for
polarising opinions. Men of the stature of Fabio Capello and Sir
Alex Ferguson have drawn very different conclusions and, as the
striker's first season at Manchester United is curtailed
prematurely, each could consider himself vindicated. A player
targeted by Hull and Stoke and then signed by the Premier League
winners is one whose status within the game is a subject for
debate.
If the United manager is being cost-conscious, he can cite
Owen's lack of a transfer fee and his comparatively meagre basic
wages, with part of his salary dependent upon performance. A season
that incorporates a cup final goal, an injury-time derby winner and
a Champions League hat-trick is hard to dismiss as a failure; the
manner of their execution was sufficient to bring back memories of
the younger Owen and suggest that a big-match temperament,
essential for a Manchester United player, remains among his
attributes.
In addition, a return of nine strikes from just 11 starts hints
at the sort of return he produced, particularly for Liverpool, and
compares favourably with Dimitar Berbatov's goal-per-game ratio.
One instant in September enabled Owen to overshadow his once
popular predecessor, Carlos Tevez, and enable Ferguson to talk
dismissively about the "noisy neighbours".
The context means he can be deemed a worthwhile gamble. Whatever
is insisted by the powerbrokers at Old Trafford about the size of
Ferguson's budget, Owen appears a Glazer-friendly addition. Karim
Benzema and Tevez did not, according to the Scot, represent value
for money. Among the other forwards to join Europe's premier clubs
last summer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was still more expensive while
Mario Gomez and Diego Milito were scarcely the cheap option for
Bayern Munich and Inter Milan respectively.
Ferguson is also entitled to argue that there may be a
comparative shortage of goalscorers at the highest level: neither
Arsenal nor Liverpool signed one, while Chelsea's only arrival in
attack was the untried Daniel Sturridge. Better, perhaps, to
preserve his budget and wait for the right player to become
available.
Capello's hard-headed pragmatism or, in the eyes of Owen's
advocates, bias, has led him to an alternative analysis; it appears
to be one where his limitations are highlighted and those who
imagine the Owen of 1998 or 2001, allying his goalscoring instincts
with searing pace, are living in the past. He can appear
prematurely old for a 30-year-old and, the meeting with Manchester
City aside, has not convinced as a game-changing replacement.
The Italian has the benefit of a similar striker, in Jermain
Defoe, and has perhaps decided that a man who is accustomed to
having a team built around him is unsuited to the role of bit-part
player. Goals can be a powerful currency, but Capello's fondness
for Emile Heskey indicates they are not the only source of value.
Ferguson has unwittingly provided examples of Owen's inflexibility:
he has deemed the Englishman unable to play as a lone striker and
too similar - in positioning, if not ability and overall impact -
to Wayne Rooney to operate alongside the younger man. Rooney's
indispensability means there is no choice to be made; it also means
that Owen can only partner Berbatov or, in the Carling Cup and dead
rubbers, United's youthful forwards.
A total of a mere 11 starts is indicative. Ferguson has
subsequently said he should have picked Owen more, but fulsome
tributes have rarely been supported by his team selections. Public
praise and private decisions have been separated by some
distance.
Even Owen's finest contributions do not appear to have had a
persuasive effect; four days after his treble in Wolfsburg, he was
back among the substitutes. Indeed, bench duty, glaring misses and
periods of anonymity have punctuated his United career, for all the
accolades directed at him by Ferguson.
Then there is the tag he cannot shed which is part of the
paradox of Owen. He's not injury-prone, he keeps insisting, and the
brochure advertising his services was adamant, but he does have an
unfortunate habit of getting injured at crucial moments. The
hamstring strain incurred during the Carling Cup final was one
such; it leaves Ferguson with an absence of alternatives in attack
at the end of the campaign.
Though Owen had proved unable to alleviate his fitness problems,
they exacerbated the importance of Rooney, which is a problem
shared by Capello and Ferguson. Half-way through his contract at
Old Trafford, the verdicts on Owen can vary: underused or
underwhelming, finisher or finished, professional goalscorer or
racehorse impresario. Neither unmitigated disaster nor unqualified
success, he remains a contentious issue.
Capello is content without Owen, Ferguson forced to make do in
his absence. He has started infrequently with three senior
centre-forwards at Old Trafford but given the lack of alternatives
to Rooney and Berbatov, the eventual judgment may be that Ferguson
would be better served if Owen were his fourth-choice forward next
year.