How has it come to this for Michael Owen? Having relegation candidates Hull and Stoke as the only real contenders for his signature was not what the former England striker had in mind at the end of his contract when he penned a four year deal at Newcastle in 2005.

No disrespect to the two clubs, but they’re hardly accustomed to the type of glamour associated with Owen’s former clubs Liverpool and Real Madrid. To see one of the best strikers of his generation suffer such premature demise really is quite sad and one would hope I’m not alone in hoping he can recapture the sort of form which earned him the Ballon d’Or award in 2001.

The 29-year-old becomes a free agent this week as his four year contract at St. James’ Park comes to an end, and the 89-time capped Englishman has even had to advertise his services with an embarrassing brochure detailing his qualities which was distributed to clubs by his representatives.

Yet despite his impressive CV and scoring ratio, Owen has only accumulated interest from teams at the lower end of the Premier League table. Surely his career record of 204 goals in just over 400 appearances merits higher interest? He nears the one in two ratio that every striker covets despite his long history of injuries, and not many strikers in Europe can offer that over a 418 game span.

In the current economic climate, it’s a wonder Owen doesn’t have a host of clubs lining up for his signature as the experienced striker is a potential bargain for any club.

He has stated his desire to stay in the Premier League but as of yet the only offers on the table won’t appeal greatly to him. Perhaps Owen is reluctant to try his luck abroad again, and who could blame him as his career has spiralled towards its present state ever since he decided to leave his boyhood club for the Bernabeu.






At the time, the change wasn’t necessary for Owen and he missed out on a Champions League medal after Rafael Benitez landed the prestigious trophy in his first season at Anfield. But now a change really is necessary and perhaps a move abroad might be more fitting for Owens career than it was in 2004.

The player has hinted that interest has been declared from several unnamed European clubs, and although he has expressed his desire to remain in England, the right club for him could lie elsewhere.

If he were to move to Roma for example, one of those clubs rumoured to be interested, Owen could realistically rejuvenate his England career under Italian Fabio Capello. Breaking the 90 cap barrier is surely one of the last targets in Owen’s career and a move to Capello’s homeland could turn the England boss’ head.






Lets be honest, he’s more likely to spend his time in the Italian capital than at the Britannia Stadium next year. Seria A is not the league it once was. Like Owen, it has struggled to live up to its name these past few years as aside from Milan, no other club has offered any real threat in the Champions League in recent years.

The standard has slipped no doubt, but Owen could use that to his advantage. Italians pride their football on solid defending therefore a striker can be considered a revelation by breaking the 15-goal mark and I for one think Owen is more than capable of achieving that.

Making a mark in Capello’s homeland is much more likely to impress the Italian rather than a handful of important goals in a relegation scrap, which is what Owen IS likely to face should he stay in England.

Or the former Real Madrid man might fancy setting the record straight by returning to Spain. Owen was deemed a failure in La Liga upon his return to England, despite netting 16 league goals when largely used as a substitute.

He even amassed the best goals-per-minute ratio in the league in his sole season in Spain’s capital, which is enough alone to suggest he was not a flop there. However the doubters still accuse, but perhaps a return to La Liga would offer him the chance to prove such people wrong.

A switch to the likes of Villareal or Sevilla could be perfect for him. And if Diego Forlan can net so many goals in that division I’m sure Owen can do the same!






A further reason why a move abroad is Owen’s best option is the reduced amount of media coverage he would receive. The English press love to ridicule, and no one has been ridiculed more in recent years than the “finished” Michael Owen.

A move to a hot country would allow Owen to relax and find his form without the press on his back every second, and that could be crucial if he is to re-emerge as a candidate for seat on the England plane heading to South Africa next summer.

It worked for Kevin Keegan when he moved to Hamburg in 1977. True, Germany is not a hot country but it did allow Keegan to unwind and regain his status as one of the best strikers in Europe after winning the European Player of the Year in his second season there.

The former Liverpool striker had achieved “pop-star” status in England for his rock star barnet and his womanising skills. But after winning the European Cup with Liverpool in his last season there, Keegan upped sticks and left for Germany to escape the limelight.

Owen shares certain characters with his former manager in terms of their style of play, and I feel he could learn from Keegan’s moves as a player. One thing is for sure, Fabio Capello will rarely keep tabs on goings-on at the Britannia or KC Stadium next year, so do the sensible thing Michael, and take your chances overseas.

It’s fitting that Andriy Shevchenko used to be a boxer as a kid. The forgotten 32-year-old Chelsea forward is at the moment like a struggling fighter, lying on the canvas after a 10th round knock-down. He looks beaten, tired and fed up with what he’s putting himself through, but he knows he has to get up. He knows he can’t give in and succumb to throwing in the towel with his career on the line.

It was boxing which first captured the imagination of sports-mad Shevchenko as a kid, and he even competed at LLWI Ukrainian junior league level before discovering his gift for football. But after being coached at both sports as a youngster, the former Dinamo Kiev striker needs to take a boxer’s mentality into his current profession, and he needs it now more than ever.

Carlo Ancelotti took over the reigns at Chelsea at the beginning of this month, and for Shevchenko it must have felt like the bell sounding a second after he’d found his feet on time following that 10th round flooring.

After all, Ancelotti is the coach who guided him to great things at Milan. To winning the Champions League in 2003 and following it up with the Seria A title the next year, polished off with the prestigious Ballon d’Or award.

Under the Italian boss Shevchenko became the most feared striker in the planet and when Roman Abramovich sweet talked his fellow Eastern European into joining his billionaire’s playground at Chelsea in 2006, defences up and down the country feared for their dignity.

When the Russian finally landed the Ukrainian for £30.8m they were getting an AC Milan legend. The Rossineri’s second all-time goalscorer, who at the time was the 3rd highest scorer in the history of European club football. A genuine modern legend, who simply couldn’t fail to live up to his billing upon his switch to London.

Except he could…and he did. It wasn’t entirely the player’s fault however as he was brought to the club in circumstances the English game is not yet equipped to deal with. Jose Mourinho was the Chelsea boss but Shevchenko certainly wasn’t his signing, and the Portuguese master showed both the Ukrainian and Abramovich exactly why they called him the ‘boss’.

Mourinho was reluctant to use the Ukrainian as a mainstay in his starting line up, instead preferring Didier Drogba, the signing he himself had arranged. ‘The Special One’ proved exactly why the formula of chairmen and owners buying players simply doesn’t work in English football. Rafael Benitez reiterated this with his similar shabby treatment of Robbie Keane, a £20m flop signed by then Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry.





It’s the players who suffer ultimately, and boy has Shevchenko suffered. Keane, incidentally, has since returned successfully to Tottenham where Liverpool bought him from in a move which mirrored that of Shevchenko’s loan return to his ‘home’ at AC Milan last year.

Mirrored except for one thing – success. While normal service was resumed for Keane at White Hart Lane, it has been a different story for the Ukrainian’s return to the San Siro. The striker did not find the net once in his 17 league outings last term for Milan and was largely subject to embarrassing cameo appearances to please the crowd towards the end of the campaign.

Just two goals in all competitions after 26 games has damaged his previously incredible record for the Italian giants. But his performances were so poor and his confidence so low that not even his beloved Milan fans would take him back again.

And so the fallen star returns to Stamford Bridge with hopes of making an impact in the final year of his contract, and with his former Milan boss now in charge his hopes actually seem very real. He had the opportunity to join Monaco and bask in a luxury villa reflecting on what has been an amazing career. But upon hearing of Ancelotti’s arrival in London, the man who once coached him to be the best striker in the world, he fancies another crack at the Premier League.

At 32, Shevchenko is sitting in the corner ready to come out for the 11th round of his career. The next round is crucial if he is to prolong his career the full distance. He knows he hasn’t got long, he knows he’s already been knocked down, but he also knows it’s not over. The Ukrainian is now reunited with his father-figure coach, determined not to go out of his Chelsea career without a fight.

It’ll take all the patience, discipline and skill of a boxer to turn this one around, but for Shevchenko, next season is there for the taking. So don’t rule him out just yet, because this one could yet go to the scorecards.