Liverpool without Michael Owen? It’s like Japanese without cameras, Arsenal without Patrick Veira … it just doesn’t feel right. But it looks like that’s the way it’s going to be.
Just when it looked like Owen was about to join Steve Gerrard and sign a new contract under new boss Rafael Benitez, along came the news that the 24-year-old is set to leave his beloved Liverpool with a year left on his contract.
Owen apparently feels the new deal on offer wasn’t good enough, the club feel he’s past his best, they’ve got strikers aplenty and it’s time to cash in.
There were snags later in the week surrounding the proposed move of Samuel Eto’o to Anfield as part of the deal — the Cameroon striker, jointly owned by Real and Valencia, now appears headed for Barcelona — but an increased fee of £12-million for Owen now seems to be on the cards.
And Owen’s appearance as a firmly benched substitute throughout the 2-0 Champions League qualifying win over Graz AK in Austria on Tuesday only confirmed suspicions that the lad from north Wales is on his way out.
Strangely, the notoriously opinionated Scouse public appears to be unmoved by this move. Gerrard was apparently the victim of death threats when he considered leaving for Chelsea. Owen’s departure has evoked nothing like as much vitriol.
There are several reasons for this.
Firstly, he’s not quite as sharp as he was in his teenage years. The hamstring injuries have piled up and he was out of form at Euro 2004.
Secondly, Benitez has signed French striker Djibril Cisse to partner Euro 2004 top-scorer Milan Baros of the Czech Republic up front.
And, unlike Robbie Fowler and Gerrard, Owen is not a true Scouser and his quiet, methodical manner never quite made him a Kop idol.
Significantly, another local lad, Danny Murphy, left Liverpool for Charlton in a £2,5-million deal this week saying: ‘I think it’s inevitable that when you have such a cosmopolitan club and the number of English players diminishes, the spirit becomes less and less.
‘I just wanted to work under an English manager [Alan Curbishley], who I can have a crystal clear relationship with. It was important to come to Charlton where there’s a good spirit, the lads get on, there isn’t such a cosmopolitan approach.â€
This comes on top of the suggestion that Benitez has demanded that Owen, Murphy, Gerrard and Jamie Carragher stop sitting together in the canteen after training at Liverpool.
Benitez is apparently trying to wipe out the ‘English mafia†at Anfield, something the fans won’t like and the press will have a field day with.
Question is, with David Beckham, Owen and Premiership star Vieira going to Real, will the erm … Madridistas soon be coming down with Anglophobia?