Michael Owen’s return to the English Premiership in the summer of 2005 after just one year with Real Madrid has hardly proved relishing for the 27-year old. He has been plagued with a string of serious injuries and at one point there was a genuine doubt whether he could ever recover full fitness to play at the highest level. Even the return of the vintage goal scoring touch to his boots in the early weeks of this season appears to have failed to distance the injury devil.
The Newcastle United striker was already suffering with a groin strain and was to have an operation there to have a 3 cm tear in his abdominal muscle repaired. But he went to see a specialist in Manchester on Thursday and he was then advised to get his stomach lining strengthen so as to wipe out the risk of getting a hernia problem that could stretch his tenure on the sidelines to several months. This implies that Owen would now have to undergo two operations.
Owen is now expected to miss at least three weeks of football action and the period could extend to even two months. He would therefore miss England’s crunch encounters against Estonia and Russia in Group E of the Euro qualifiers next month.
Owen limped off against Derby on September 17 and was substituted against West Ham United on Sunday; he also missed Newcastle’s Carling Cup defeat to Arsenal on Tuesday. Owen has been gradually peaking to his old goal scoring form this season for both club and country and his total of three goals against Israel and Russia earlier this month in crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers refurbished Steve McClaren’s England side’s aspirations to qualify for the finals in Austria and Switzerland next year.
Michael Owen has always been regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and since emerging a short, gifted young kid in the France World Cup in 1998 when he scored one of the top three goals ever in the World Cup finals against Argentina. Since then, he has hogged the limelight until an ill-advised move way from Liverpool at the start of the 2004-2005 season. He failed to establish himself at the Bernabeu and returned to the Premiership, this time to Newcastle United.
Owen broke his metatarsal playing for Newcastle against Tottenham Hotspur on December 31, 2005 and had to undergo two operations to have that injury healed. He then damaged anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee against Sweden in the World Cup in 2006. That injury put him out of action for most of last season and the injury crisis seems to have reared its ugly head once again.
Owen’s career after his departure from Liverpool has been littered with injuries and even at Newcastle, under the watchful eye of Sam Allardyce, the England striker is unable to outrun his nemesis.
Image Source: Poster Net
Source: Football, UK
