Michael Owen on desperation to retire and a failed Liverpool return | OneFootball

Michael Owen burst onto the scene as a fresh-faced 17-year-old boasting lightning pace, excellent positioning and an incredible ability to find the back of the net.

However, by the age of 33 and sat on the bench with Stoke City, he couldn’t wait to retire and was living a footballing life of ‘turmoil’.

Owen played for Liverpool, Real Madrid and England, he won the Ballon d’Or and was one of the finest strikers of a generation.

From the strikes at Anfield to playing the with Galacticos in the Spanish capital to that goal against Argentina at the World Cup, he was one of the best finishers the game had seen.

However, in a wide-ranging interview on BT Sport, the former frontman admitted his career was ultimately ended prematuirely by injury, injury which completely changed his way of playing for the worse and made him desperate to quit the game he had now ‘hated’ for years.

“Once I did it once (hamstring tear), I was gone really.” he said of an incident at Elland Road early in his career. “I changed my game, I went from someone who scored goals like I did against Argentina, beating players, I was quick, running in channels, I was crossing the ball. That was me.

“The last six or seven years of my career, I just turned into the only thing I could. I was petrified of running into a channel, I just knew I was going to tear a muscle.

“The worst thing about it all, your instinct says what you’ve always done, I was bred to be a footballer. Worst thing ever, Macca (Steve McManaman) gets the ball and then I think ‘oh no, you can’t, don’t, come off short.

“You have lost everything. All I did at the end of my career for six or seven years, I hated it. I couldn’t wait to retire at the back end of my career because I wasn’t me.

“What’s even worse, I explained how it felt when Macca got the ball, and my immediate reaction is do this. And then in a split second, no you can’t, just go short,” he continued.

“The worst thing is, you then get into a rut whereby you don’t even put yourself into a position where you are able to run. So you actually then go and stand in areas where you shouldn’t even be.”

Owen admits the injuries made him contemplate retirement ‘loads of times’, even offering to end his Stoke contract early, six months before he eventually hung up his boots in May 2013, while not being able to play at the highest level was too tough to take.

“I admire people who can play for the love of the game,” he said. “They may lose a yard of pace and they can go down a division or play against lesser teams – but, for me, it was turmoil.”

While Owen’s spell on the sidelines hampered his career throughout, his biggest regret was not being able to return to first club Liverpool.

The striker, after scoring 158 goals in 297 matches, swapped Merseyside for Madrid in 2004 but always intended on returning.

Owen was keen to experience Spanish football with one of the biggest club’s in the world but intended to be back in the Premier League, with Liverpool, within two years.

However, despite agreeing the move back, a late bid from elsewhere meant he would never return.

“In my mind, I thought ‘go to Madrid for two years’ and then come back,” he revealed. “I even shook the chairman and chief executive’s hand and said ‘make sure you get me back’.

“It would have been my dream [to come back]. It didn’t happen and I don’t blame anyone.”

“I met Rafa Benitez after a year and we had sorted everything out to come back.

“But I had gone for £8m and Liverpool wanted to buy me back for £10m, then Newcastle came in and offered £16m,” Owen revealed.

“The Real president knocked on my hotel room door and said ‘you are staying or you are going to Newcastle.

“I spoke to Liverpool and asked if they would match it but they said £10m was their maximum.

“At Newcastle, I had it in my contract that I could go back for a set amount. I agreed to go to Newcastle on the basis that I could still go back to Liverpool.”