Michael Owen is not so sure Sir Alex Ferguson is right to say his injury nightmares all stemmed from a youth tournament back in 1997.
Speaking to talkSPORT about his new explosive autobiography, Owen was discussing the legendary manager’s assessment that he played too much football, much too young.
The former striker asked his old Man United boss to write a foreword for his new book, Reboot: My Life, My Time, and in it Fergie claimed Owen’s injury woes all began when he was just 17 after playing for England in successive summers following his breakout campaign for Liverpool.
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“I always think there are crucial moments in a player’s career – their first-team debut, first goal or getting married, because they are all stepping stones,” writes Ferguson.
“For me, in tracking Michael’s career, one crucial moment was in 1997 when he played for the England youth team in Malaysia [in the FIFA World Youth Championships, now the FIFA U20 World Cup].
“In the team were two of our players, John Curtis and Ronnie Wallwork.
“They were away for a month in gruelling conditions, so we made the decision to give our two lads a month’s rest in order for them to recover physically – but not for Michael, he went straight into Liverpool’s first team!”
Owen scored three goals in that tournament and went on to play regularly for the Reds the following season, before being called up for England’s senior World Cup squad the next summer.
“I can’t with complete certainty say that was the main reason for Michael’s hamstring problems… but I spoke to Gerard Houllier years later and he agreed with me that Michael lost out on time to develop technically and physically,” added Fergie.
But while Owen admits he barely got a break from football during the early days of his career, he says muscle injuries ran in his family and that he wouldn’t have enjoyed ‘six years at the top’ – which included a Ballon d’Or in 2001 – if he hadn’t played so regularly and scored so many goals as a youngster.
Speaking to Alan Brazil and Sam Allardyce on Tuesday’s Sports Breakfast, he said: “It’s an interesting point, but I don’t think we’ll ever get to the bottom of it. Sir Alex is absolutely convinced that it’s all because I played so much.
“I went from the Liverpool first team straight to the World Cup with the England Under-20s one summer, then straight back into the Liverpool first team and straight back to another World Cup with the seniors the next summer.
“I never ever had a break.
“He’s convinced that while I was doing that, he was letting all his starlets rest up in the summer, which is absolutely fine and I totally understand it.
“But the other thing I would question is that my dad was a professional footballer and my brothers played football to a decent level and we are all lightning fast. The whole family, genetically, are very quick. But my dad suffered chronically from muscle injuries and he didn’t play as many games as I did as a kid.
“So I’m thinking that even if I had not gone to that World Cup, even if I had been protected a little bit more…
Michael Owen discusses the injury problems that plagued his career
“It is probable I wouldn’t have had that huge tear at 19.
“But then again, if I had not played in all these games and let my career flourish, I wouldn’t have won a Ballon d’Or, I wouldn’t have gone to the World Cup, I wouldn’t have won all those trophies and wouldn’t have been so explosive at the start of my career.
“So as much as it’s frustrating that the second half of my career couldn’t match the first half, it’s still better than nothing, I still had six years at the top of my profession.”
Listen back to a clip of Michael Owen on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast above