Manchester United striker Michael
Owen insists he is very happy at Old
Trafford.
Owen will find out before the end of Tuesday how long he will be
sidelined for by the hamstring injury he suffered during Sunday's
Carling Cup final.
The setback, the second time this season Owen has been forced
out of a game before half-time when he was being watched by England
boss Fabio
Capello, almost certainly signals the end of any
lingering hopes of making this summer's World Cup.
Yet that disappointment in itself does not mean Owen regards his
move to Old Trafford as a failure. On the contrary, with one
winners' medal in his pocket and the prospect of more to come as
United go for glory in the Premier League and Champions League,
Owen has no regrets whatsoever.
"I am loving it at Manchester United," he said. "There are
plenty of people who want to put negative spins on things. I have
four kids, I am living at home and playing for one of the best
teams in Europe. It is not all doom and gloom is it?
"We still have the Premier League and the Champions League to
play for, which I have never won, so I have every reason to have a
smile on my face."
The one dark cloud is the injury, which Owen believes will
sideline him for a number of weeks once the exact extent is
established by a scan he expects to take place on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old will be doubly frustrated because he knows the
injury will be used to highlight fitness concerns he believes do
not actually exist. Thirty-one appearances so far this season do
not square with those concerns either, and, as his lack of starts
is down to
Wayne Rooney's
phenomenal form, that is hardly something he can be blamed for.
Certainly Sir
Alex Ferguson is sufficiently impressed to rule
out any chance of Owen leaving United this summer, a position the
former Liverpool player is happy to endorse.
"I am very pleased the manager is suggesting I have done well in
my first season," he said. "The way Wayne has played this season
has been fantastic. In any other year, he might have picked up an
injury or been suspended and I would have got more games."
Owen expects to get more games once he is back to 100% and play
a significant role in United's quest for more silverware.
Scoring in his first Wembley cup final appearance was a decent
reward for a season's endeavours. But that only brought a third
Carling Cup medal. Now he wants a big prize, knowing he has never
been part of a side that has conquered England or Europe.
"Trophies drive me," he said. "I have not won as many as a lot
of those players in that dressing room, so if they still have the
hunger, I certainly have.
"Gary Neville, Ryan
Giggs and Paul
Scholes are where they are because they have a
hunger to do well. I would like to think I am still hungry as well.
I don't think the manager would accept it if anyone wasn't hungry
to win."
That hunger will only have been made more acute by events at
Stamford Bridge before United claimed the first silverware of the
season.
Chelsea's unexpected home defeat to Manchester City means the
Red Devils' fate is in their own hands once more, with so much
resting on that meeting between the top two at Old Trafford on
April 3.
Owen should be back for that, although there are other important
games before then, starting with Saturday's trip to Wolves, when
victory would once again allow Ferguson's men to claim top
spot.
"It has been a great weekend for us, with Chelsea not getting a
great result and us winning here," Owen said. "We are all really
happy at the minute.
"I am disappointed because I am going to be out for a few weeks,
but once I get back it will hopefully be for some important
games."
