Michael Owen

Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team.

Michael James Owen was born on 14 December 1979 in Chester, Cheshire, the fourth child of Jeanette and Terry Owen.

His father is a former professional footballer and played for clubs such as Chester City and Everton.

Owen was introduced to football at the age of seven by his father who soon saw Michael as the most promising athlete in the family.

A boyhood Everton fan, Owen attended Rector Drew Primary School in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales and by the age of ten, some of the nation's leading scouts were monitoring his progress.

At eight, Owen was selected for the Deeside Area Primary School's Under-11 team.

At nine, he was captain and at ten he had smashed Ian Rush's 20-year record for the same team by scoring 97 goals in a single season, improving on Rush's record by 25 goals.

Owen also broke Gary Speed's appearance record having played in all three seasons for the 11-year-olds since he was eight.

Owen turned out for the youth team of Mold Alexandra, playing with the under-10s at the age of eight after a local physical education teacher, Howard Roberts, persuaded the league to allow an under-age player.

Owen scored on his debut for Mold Alexandra, a 2–0 victory over local rivals Bagillt.

He went on to score 34 goals in 24 games in his first season with Mold Alexandra.

After leaving Deeside, Owen attended Hawarden High School, where he also played for the school team.

At age 12, when Owen started attending secondary school, he became eligible to sign a schoolboy contract with a club.

The first major club to spot him playing for Deeside was Liverpool.

The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen was born in Chester and began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996.

Displaying rapid pace and composed finishing, he progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his Premier League debut in May 1997, becoming the club's youngest goalscorer, at.

In his first full season in the Premier League, Owen finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals, sharing the Premier League Golden Boot.

He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal-scorer from 1997 to 2004, gaining his name as a proven goal-scorer despite suffering from a recurring hamstring injury.

Internationally, Owen first played for the senior England team in 1998, becoming England's youngest player and youngest goalscorer at the time.

His performance at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which included a goal against Argentina in which he ran from the halfway line, brought him to national and international prominence, making him one of the most sought after players in world football.

He went on to score in UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004.

He is the only player to have scored in four consecutive major tournaments for England.

In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup (with Owen scoring two late goals in the final) and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or.

He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool, and 158 goals in 297 total appearances.

In March 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.

After Liverpool had fallen behind their title rivals under Gérard Houllier's final two seasons, Owen opted not to renew his contract and then moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in the summer of 2004.

There he was frequently used as a substitute.

He scored 13 goals in La Liga before returning to England the following season where he joined Newcastle United for £16.8 million.

This was after Owen's disappointment that Real had rejected a bid from Liverpool to re-sign him.

After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months.

He played at the 2006 World Cup, but suffered an injury which took him a year to recover from.

After his return, he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season.

Newcastle were relegated in the 2008–09 season and, in a surprise move, Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent.

Occasionally playing as captain, he is England's 11th-most-capped player and has scored a former national record (since overtaken by Wayne Rooney) of 26 competitive goals, with 40 in total from 89 appearances, most recently in 2008.

He spent three years at Old Trafford before joining Stoke City in September 2012.

Owen is one of ten players to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League.

He is also the youngest player to have reached 100 goals in the Premier League.

Since retiring from football in 2013, he has become a racehorse breeder and owner and regularly features as a sports pundit and commentator.

Owen is widely considered to be one of the greatest strikers of his generation and in Premier League history.

On 19 March 2013, Owen announced his retirement from playing at the end of the 2012–13 season.