There are certainly mixed opinions on Michael Owen’s stay at Old Trafford, yet the former Red Devil says that it probably wasn’t a good idea to extend his stay at the end of last season. After completing a move to Stoke, Owen claims that his career may have been benefited had he moved to look for more regular football twelve months ago.
Owen ended a three year association with United this summer, after joining the club back in 2009. It would be fair to say that there were several raised eyebrows when he first made the switch and after making just six league starts during his whole Old Trafford career, he certainly never established himself as a regular. Nevertheless, he did manage a total haul of seventeen goals in all competitions, which certainly wasn’t a bad return considering his lack of first team action.
With the former Liverpool striker now 32-years-old, the general consensus is that his best years are firmly behind him. However, the player claims that he still has plenty to offer the top flight, but says he probably should have made better decisions last season. “In hindsight, probably with that extra year, it might have been better if I had moved in many ways,” he said. “I was on the bench a lot of the time, but then when the manager says ‘you have a big role to play and we want you to stay for another year’, it was great to hear that from someone like Sir Alex Ferguson.”
With United bringing in the likes of Robin Van Persie and Angelo Henriquez over recent months, there would have certainly been little chance of Owen featuring at all this season. Nevertheless, if he can at least manage to stay fit, his goal scoring record over the years suggest that he could manage to make an impact with his new club.