Michael Owen says that his former club Liverpool are not making a mistake by bringing in Mario Balotelli from AC Milan. The Italian international is expected to complete his £ 16 million move to Anfield before Monday, although he will not be able to play in the match against his former team Manchester City. Balotelli spent almost 3 seasons at City where he created a reputation for being a troublemaker. He was also regarded as one of the talented youngsters in the world. Now 24 years old, the striker will not be forgiven for repeating his antics off the pitch.

At his age, Balotelli will be seen as someone who can be a regular first-team player if he is on form. Now retired from all forms of football, Owen has been seeing his former team slowly raise up the table. Last season, they almost won the title while season they will be making a return to Champions League after a four-year absence. Balotelli has the potential to be a star at Liverpool according to Owen. He is confident that manager Brendan Rodgers will be able to get the best out of him. Liverpool are thought to have inserted a clause in Balotelli’s contract that he would be sold if his character was not upto the mark.

“Going to be great fun having Ballotelli back in The Premier League. There is no doubt about his talent and I’m sure Brendan Rodgers will make sure he behaves having witnessed the problems Suarez inflicted on the club. If that’s the case, 16m looks good value,” said the former Liverpool striker who scored almost 300 goals for the Merseyside outfit. After the loss of Luis Suarez to Barcelona, Liverpool badly needed to strengthen the attack in order to cope with the stress and rigors of a 50 game season.

Former Manchester United and Liverpool striker Michael Owen has claimed that he is confident that Arsenal will not even finish fourth let alone win the title. Arsenal come into the new season with a lot of positivity after having finally brought their trophy drought to an end by winning the FA Cup. This was the first title in nine years for Arsenal. They have managed build on this positivity by signing players like Alex Sanchez. So far, they have splashed out £ 40 million on two players, while more are expected to come in the next few weeks.

They are heavily linked with Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira, who will be available for around £ 20 million. Signing such experienced players has made Arsenal as one of the favourites for the title. However, former United and Liverpool striker Owen, who has now retired from football, claims that Arsenal will even struggle to finish in the fourth place. The comments by the former England international certainly raise eyebrows, but Owen that Arsenal will struggle to compete with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United.

There will be as much as six teams competing for the top four places, which will provide Champions League football. Owen expects Arsenal to miss out on the top four along with Tottenham. “The signing of Sanchez has made everyone sit up and take note. I really do rate him, he’s a top player and it’s a big step in the right direction. But, in no particular order, my top four for next season would be Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool. If Liverpool are going to progress again, they probably need to get better again. Manchester City won the league, Chelsea have strengthened in a big way,” said the former striker, who won the league title with United.

Louis van Gaal guided Netherlands to the 3rd spot of the 2014 World Cup and he has received praise for his work from supporters and players all over the globe including Michael Owen who recently stepped up and complimented the Dutch manager who will be in charge of Manchester United for the next season.

Owen spoke to the media: “If there were any doubts about Van Gaal’s credentials to become the United manager and given his CV I doubt there ever were they must have been eradicated after that destruction of Spain, a fixture which set the tone for a riveting tournament’’
“Van Gaal’s most eye-catching decision was to substitute goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen for Tim Krul before the quarter-final penalty shoot-out against Costa Rica.

“That encapsulated his single-mindedness but his influence was evident throughout the competition with some of his unorthodox but successful selections. It must have been reassuring for United fans who are desperate for the club to return to their natural home in the Champions League.”

Replacing David Moyes with Louis van Gaal was the first step that the staff members of Manchester United decided to do in order to help the club restore themselves from the disastrous campaign they went through in the past season.

Some signings have been made in Old Trafford as Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera are the players that will be joining the Premier League club and help them in their journey of getting back into the Champions League with Louis van Gaal being the main man in charge of making it all happen.

Mats Hummels, Arturo Vidal, Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria are some of the other summer targets that Van Gaal is hoping to sign but the Dutch manager will have to be ready to break the bank in order to sign all of those sought out talents before any other club does.

With the 2014 World Cup arriving in less than 1 month, players and managers around the globe are preparing themselves for the worldwide tournament. Spain and Brazil are the favorites on winning it this time around. England has not managed on securing the trophy since 1966 and they still are considered underdogs.

Roy Hodgson has his work cut out for him as England was pitted in the same group alongside Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica which is one of the harder groups in the entire competition and it will be difficult enough for them to escape the group stages.

Despite the tough opponents that England has to face, Michael Owen is confident about the team and the managerial abilities that Roy Hodgson has to offer for the nation.

‘’I believe Roy Hodgson is an attack-minded manager. He certainly has been with England, as there are goals in every game nowadays. We have fantastic attacking players and, like Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool, you must play to your strengths’’.

‘’England has Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling, Adam Lallana, Ross Barkley and Steven Gerrard, and these players are able to score and create. We should try to outscore our opponents rather than play defensively and look to steal a win. I think Barkley is an exceptional talent. Young players like Barkley haven’t been scarred from previous experiences and they are full of confidence’’. Owen stated.

Michael Owen praised all the young talent that the England squad has to offer.

England has a number of friendly matches scheduled to play against Peru, Ecuador and Honduras just before the start of the 2014 World Cup and it will be a crucial time for Hodgson as he has to settle on which players and formation he is going to rely on for the tough mountain that lies ahead of him and the squad which starts on June 14 when they face off against Italy.

Real Madrid’s 4-3 loss against Barcelona in the Santiago Bernabeu witnessed Lionel Messi stepping it up once more for his club as he scored on 3 occasions as well as the Argentine providing the assist for Iniesta to score the opening goal of the match.

When the team needed him most, he demonstrated why he is still regarded to be the best player in the world despite losing the last Ballon d’Or race against C.Ronaldo.

The Spanish ‘’Clasico’’ was yet again filled with plenty of fouls, aggressive playing, fighting, yellow cards and even 1 late red card was displayed to Sergio Ramos who had to be sent off in the 2nd half of the match.

There were a lot of controversial moments during the match which has caused some Real Madrid players on criticizing the performance from the referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco and even suggesting him to not be in charge of another high profile and important match such as this one.

“The referee made some incredible decisions but we have to carry on. In a Real Madrid-Barcelona game you have to have a referee who is up to the task. I don’t want to use the referee as an excuse but if you analyze the 90 minutes there were a lot of mistakes.” C.Ronaldo said after the conclusion of the match.

“Real Madrid is the greatest club and there is a lot of envy around it. It’s tough because a lot of people did not want us to win and Barcelona to be out of the title race. They probably do not want Real to win this league. It makes me think that you don’t only win matches on the pitch but also with a little bit of help from outside.” C.Ronaldo added.

This victory for Barcelona now puts them back in the race for the league title along with Real Madrid and Athletic Madrid as they are the top teams which are fighting for the silverware.

It’s been almost 9 months since Michael Owen made his retirement from playing professional football as he received a standing ovation when playing with Stoke City and even though is not out on the playing grounds, the former English player is still active on the media and the world of football around of him.

At the beginning of the Premier League season Owen stated that Arsenal would finish the current campaign at the 5th spot but after seeing the successful season Arsene Wenger’s side is going through, they are one of the top candidates on claiming the title.

Michael Owen’s prediction might not be top notch but he also took his time to speak about the deadline day of the transfer window as he stated that it is usually filled with madness and exhilaration which are some of the reasons why he enjoys it.

Personally, I love it and I am as absorbed as anyone by the hype. If it is ‘manufactured’ for a TV audience it is entirely by accident and due to the clubs themselves who, for their own reasons, decide to wait until the last minute of the last day to pursue their targets. If the clubs conducted their business in a less frenzied way we could all congratulate them on their organisation but it would not be so much fun.

‘’I speak from experience. I enjoyed the full glamour of deadline day when I signed for Stoke in September 2012. It was approaching 4pm, the window about to close, and I was sitting in my car at a service station on the M6, waiting for the call to head to the training ground to complete the formalities of a free transfer’’.

‘’Technically, I could have joined a club at any time because I was not under contract but the squad submissions needed to be sent to the Premier League so I was caught up in the mania’’. Owen stated.

Even the diehard Manchester United fans would not have been backing them to retain their Premier League title at this point of time, but, there is one man who still believes that the Red Devils are in the title race. That man is none other than Michael Owen who himself was a part of Manchester United a couple of years ago.

Manchester United has so far played 20 matches in the ongoing Barclays Premier League out of which they have won 10, have lost 6 and have shared points on 4 occasions. Their points tally reads only 34 at the moment.

Arsenal FC which is at the top of the League points table has got 11 points more than the Red Devils.
Owen was in the studio of a television channel the other day to analyse the FA Cup matches. When he was asked if he thinks that Manchester United has any chance of winning the Premier League title this season, he said, “Yes, I think so. They are still in the contention.”

“Before the start of the season if you had asked me which two teams are the top favourites to achieve glory, I would have said Chelsea and Manchester United. And, my thinking is still the same.”

When asked which of his goals is the most memorable for him, the 34 years old former England international said, “The second goal that I had scored playing for Liverpool in the FA Cup final against Arsenal in 2001 is my favourite because that had helped us win the title.”

Liverpool had got better of the Gunners by a close margin of 2-1 in that final match and it was Owen who had found the net for them on both the occasions.

Former England striker Michael Owen has revealed that he came close to joining Manchester United when he was just 12 years old but he is still unsure about the comments made by Sir Alex Ferguson in his recent autobiography that he would have turned out to be a better player had he joined them earlier.

According to Owen he was 12 years old, sitting in Ferguson’s office at Old Trafford and the legendary Scotsman looked straight into his eyes and asked him if he wanted to play for Manchester United. Owen stated that the answer was an emphatic no because his heart was set on Liverpool but he did admit he was flattered to see Sir Alex remember the event still and writing about it in his autobiography.

In his book Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography, the Scotsman stated that had Michael Owen joined the club when he was 12 years old, he would undoubtedly have become one of the greatest strikers of all time. He went on to add that the lack of rest as well technical development in those early years at Liverpool hindered his progress.

Owen also revealed that merely a week before that meeting with Sir Alex, he was with then Arsenal manager George Graham who asked him that same question, as did Chelsea boss Glenn Hoddle. He mentioned that he was with Liverpool at that time and that he was on a fact finding tour and it was easy to see what they thought of him.

Owen did, however, play for Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United when he was snapped up as a free transfer in the summer of 2009 and although injuries limited his time at the club, Michael Owen admits that he immensely enjoyed his time at the club and winning the Premier League was a great achievement.

Premier League giants Liverpool have insisted that star striker Luis Suarez is not for sale at any price and manager Brendan Rodgers has stated that if they were to sell the Uruguayan striker, it would take a price tag close to the £ 100 million being touted for Gareth Bale to get the club to think about selling their prized asset.

Real Madrid, who were thought to be interested in the services of the player during the summer have turned their attention on Tottenham Hotspur man Gareth Bale instead. And Rodgers has argued that if Bale is valued at a whopping £ 100 million, then Suarez, who scored 23 goals in the Premier League last season, two more than the Welshman, should have a value far greater than the £ 40 million and £ 1 that Arsenal have offered for his services.

Various reports have suggested Luis Suarez is considering handing in a transfer request to Liverpool as well as contemplating legal action in order to push through a move but the Northern Irishman Rodgers remained steadfast when he stated that it was very simple, Suarez is a top player and the club has no desire to sell their prized asset.

He went on to state that throughout the world, every player has a value but one has to look at the market and look at the sum offered for Suarez when people are talking about a nine figure sum for Gareth Bale.
Rodgers added that Bale and Suarez were arguably the two best players in the Premier League last term and there is no way Bale can be valued at more than 100% from Suarez. Regardless, every player has a price but Liverpool are not considering cashing in on the player unless the right offer that meets their valuation is made.

Michael Owen has said that he would have broken Bobby Charlton’s record of scoring the most no. of goals for England if he had not been hit by several injuries during his career.

Owen finished his international career with 40 goals which is 9 less than Charlton’s tally of goals.
Owen retired from professional football at the end of the last season.

Talking to the reporters about the ups and downs of his career, Owen said, “I discovered the hamstring problem pretty early in my career. I was just 19 years of age at that time and I had to make some adjustments in my game after that.”

“That injury kept troubling me time and again and eventually shortened my international career. If I had not picked up that injury so early in my career, I might have ended up as England’s leading goal scorer.”

Owen had burst onto the scene in the 1998 world cup. He was lightening quick then. His speed didn’t remain the same for too long though. The hamstring injury cut down his speed, but, Owen didn’t let that injury end his career. He adjusted his game accordingly and ended up playing for quite a few big clubs around the world including Liverpool, Manchester United and Real Madrid.
When asked for which club he enjoyed playing the most, Owen said, “I enjoyed playing for all the clubs, but, those days at Liverpool were just terrific. I was at my peak at that time and won quite a few trophies there. That was probably the best period of my career.”

Owen featured for Liverpool in 216 games and found the net 118 times for them. These numbers suggest how successful his Liverpool career was. He left Liverpool in 2004 to join Real Madrid.