Liverpool’s 15 most expensive sold players
By Ethan Lowe
Michael Owen
Date Sold: 14th August 2004 Appearances: 297 Goals: 158
A world class player turned insufferable pundit, Michael Owen is a Liverpool legend who loved to score goals. Owen started his career as the Mozart of football, displaying himself as an incredibly talented goal-scorer. He was picked up by Liverpool’s youth development coaches, and was smashing records set for the children’s teams by legends such as Ian Rush – breaking his ‘goals-in-a-season’ record by 25. He continued to impress at a young age, by breaking more goal-scoring records for the England U15’s and U16’s.
His progression into Liverpool’s youth team was outstanding, as he was only 16 when most of the other players were 18. Owen scored a hat-trick against the cup holders, Manchester United, going on to score the winner in added time. With Owen’s outstanding impact and numerous goals, Liverpool won the FA Youth Cup for the first time in the clubs history. For his 17th birthday he signed a professional contract, and made his way into Roy Evan’s senior squad.
Eager Owen got his first taste of Liverpool’s first team football as the 1996/97 season was drawing to a close, scoring in his debut against Wimbledon. I would be here all day if I sat and wrote about all the achievements and important goals Owen has to his name, so I’ll try to keep this brief. On the 1st of October, 1997, Owen signed a five-year contract with Liverpool worth £2.5million. His £10,000 a week wage made him the highest paid teenager in British football, and Owen went on to be the youngster player in the 20th century to make his England debut (aged 18 years and 59 days, on 11 February 1998). Owen was the Leagues top scorer in his first Premier League season, scoring 18 goals, and earning himself the PFA Young player of the Year award as well as a third place finish in the PFA Player of the Year award.
Owen scored a mountain of goals for Liverpool, and even won the Ballon d’Or in 2001. He is a player who earned his ‘legend’ status, and earned huge respect with his achievements on the pitch, but sadly tainted his positive relationship with the fans by making some very odd career choices. With Houllier coming In as manager, and talk of Real Madrid being interested in signing Owen, something needed to be said. Houllier spoke to the press saying “They might be able to afford Ronaldo but they cannot afford Michael Owen. For that kind of money they could only buy his left foot but he is not going anywhere. Don’t ever dream that Michael is going anywhere else, even if I am reading about other clubs. Michael is Liverpool through and through and he is staying with me.” In the end, a deal of £8.5million was enough to pry Owen away from Liverpool. As you can guess, the fans were less than impressed, and Owen did try to defend his actions, saying “Since I was 10 I didn’t just want to be a footballer, I wanted to be the best footballer in the world, There are still lots of people ahead of me but if you want to get into that bracket, you have to break out of comfort zones. That is a nutshell is why I made the life changing decision to leave Liverpool for Real Madrid. I have always had a burning desire to push myself and that is why I was disappointed with some of the defeatist reaction to my transfer. I don’t know if it is an English trait to settle for what you’ve got but I was taken aback when the first thing some people said was ‘how’s he going to get into the first team’. They didn’t say ‘fantastic, he’s moving to the biggest club in the world.”
To add insult to injury, after a season at Madrid Owen held talks to return to Liverpool, but when Newcastle offered a crazy £17million he accepted that offer over any Liverpool had made. After several seasons at Newcastle, Owen ended up as a free agent, and once again found a way to anger the Liverpool fans – becoming a player for Manchester United. His career at United was plagued by injuries, and he ended up at Stoke on a pay-as-you-play contract until the end of his career.
Michael Owen, the player who left Liverpool stating ‘I want to win big trophies’, but actually ended up watching Liverpool win the Champions League just one year later while his new club failed to win anything. He could of been a truly iconic Liverpool legend, but has failed to be adored in such a way because of his lack of loyalty to the club.
12) Michael Owen: Sold for £8.5million
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