Michael Owen made a sensation earlier this week when he claimed he was a better footballer than Wayne Rooney at the age of 17.
When Owen scored his first goal for Liverpool in 1996, he was just 17 years old. Despite his youth, Owen had no fear and became one of the world’s top attackers very rapidly. In 2001, he won the Ballon d’Or trophy, marking the pinnacle of his career.
Unfortunately, Owen’s career was hampered by a number of injuries that kept him from becoming one of England’s finest players ever.
On Rio Ferdinand Presents, Owen discussed his career and asserted that at the start of his career, he was the best player in the world for his age group. “People won’t have seen me or remembered me until later, when I was getting worse and worse,” he added. I suffer because no one remembers. Few people can recall my personality at the ages of 10, 12, 15, 18, and possibly even 22.
By 21, I was passed it and headed downward. That’s the pain because, at the age of 18, was there another 18-year-old in my immediate vicinity? In England, I was light years ahead of everyone in my age group. Everyone will say, “Oh, it’s the next Michael Owen,” when you bring in the next child, the next child, the next child, and the next one who scores ten goals.”
In response to their remarks, Match of the Day posed the question, “Wayne Rooney or Michael Owen, who was the better player at the age of 17?” to football fans on X (previously Twitter).
Owen responded forcefully to the inquiry. The 45-year-old wrote: “At 17, I scored 18 PL goals (winning the Golden Boot), and Wazza scored six.” He is still the second-youngest player to ever win the Ballon d’Or. I scored 18 goals at the age of 18, taking home the Golden Boot and placing fourth in the Ballon d’Or. Wazza scored nine points.
Wazza never scored more goals than me in our first seven seasons (117 vs. 80). which made me the second-youngest winner of the Ballon d’Or in history. From then on, I was hampered by injuries while he maintained his level. Consequently. He will always be remembered as a superior player to me. However, at 17, please.
Wayne Rooney Addresses the Remarks of Michael Owen
On the most recent episode of The Wayne Rooney Show, Rooney was highly appreciative of his former Manchester United and England teammate. Regarding the remarks, he responded as follows:
“Michael Owen was amazing at the age of 17. Despite the fact that Michael Owen played for Liverpool, I used to go out on the streets and act like him. His words make perfect sense to me.
However, our personalities and methods of play make us two entirely distinct football players. For three or four years, Michael Owen was arguably the world’s best centre forward.
“I believe that people truly forget how excellent he was. Then, it’s difficult to argue against anyone challenging Michael Owen. Regretfully, he did sustain injuries, and it’s likely that he was unable to modify his style of play as effectively as I could by returning to midfield or playing from the side.
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“Playing with him was an honour for me,” he continued. He was someone I really looked up to when I was younger, and our paths were extremely similar in that we both joined the England team at an early age and played alongside.
“When we did play together, we most likely didn’t get the best out of one another. In fact, I believe he helped me more than I helped him, even though you would assume the opposite would be true.
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