Ive just had some information off a very good source at stoke and he says that there is a very good chance of us signing Michael Owen on a pay per game basis. I have just looked at the bookies to get a bet on and his odds were 12/1 last night and now they are 4/1 on him joining us making us favourites to sign him. If he comes to Stoke IMO it will be the best signing so far!!!. Thoughts?..........
I am not sure myself, IMO he is past it and overated. Sure when fit and playing regularly he can find the net but he has suffered with injury in recent years, so for me it's a NO
Im surprised you say that mate because even at man utd when he played ( a full game) he regularly played well and scored. He must be better than anyone else we could get, dont you think?
I was going to post about this the other day, but my iPad ram out of battery.... No sources or own, but I saw a story about Owen on BBC sport saying he wants to play still but no contract offer from United, and I thought then, that seems like a a shot Pulis would take, same sort of deal as Woodgate, can't do any harm.
If we can get him fit then he will be a good player still, a striker like that never loses his ability infront of goal. its just the fitness that will be the problem.
I don`t think he`s interested in football anymore ,horseracing his main interest plus he`s another ageing `star` we`ve already got a shed load of those!! Time to do some `dumping` of them in my opinion.
Pistol I thought this the other day. Yes he's slowed down but, an ex England player never forgets where the net is... On a free I said to myself on first seeing it.. Go get him Tony, but of course he won't will he?
Owen, Woody, King, Dyer, Bullard............ The club of broken players Roll up Roll up, TP's willing to waste more money on over age crocks!
sorry mate I dont agree that Owen is a broken player. If we pay him per game it will be one of the best signings we have done since being in the prem. Sometimes you have to be realistic as we will not get the top top players at our club. Can anyone think of a better striker (who would come to our club within our wage band) any better?, because I cant. Trust me when I say that he is more determined to still be playing football than horseracing, the horseracing is something he is setting up for when he retires. I really really hope we get him as he is proven to work really well with Crouch too. As for his injuries he has been fit for over 2/3 of the season, just never given a game, but when he did play he still had his pace and finishing skills, something we havent had at Stoke since god knows when.
Ill put it to you this way, Kenwyn Jones goes out.........................Michael Owen comes in, and we will get about 5 million ish for Kenwyn and Michael Owen is free..............................Its a no brainer really.
Ric, you're beginning to convince me that it may be a reasonable deal providing he doesn't cost us an extortionate amount of money. I still think, over recent years, that he is overrated and a bit of a mercenary but I suppose having Crouch and Owen up front could net us more goals and we certainly need to score a lot more. If it were to happen, then Jerome would get even less time on the pitch, would probably leave, and that would be £4m wasted.
Im not tryingto convince you mate, just putting my thoughts across. As for Jerome I really dont klnow what TP plans to do with him, if he wouldnt play him when it was just Walters then I cant see him playing very much at all if Owen comes too. To be honest I feel sorry for Jerome as I think he has been treated poorly and never really given a chance.
ricc. I must admit that you are very persuasive with your point of view especially comparing Owen with Jones who in my opinion is totally useless, but what makes you so sure his heart is still in the game ? Could you honestly see him fitting into TP`s style of play? Is he STOKE fit,look at Palacios,who we all thought was going to be our midfield saviour.I would love it if you were right about his desire and that he joined us but I can`t see it happening.If it does great, but please let`s get rid of all the deadwood as well!
Michael Owen is 5ft 8" tall. He won't win many headers you know. Not that i'm suggesting that Stoke City play 'visionary passing' as a preference. All joking aside, I wouldn't employ that crook. He's not been properly interested in football since he realised his England career was over,(just after Capello got the England job), so I wouldn't touch him... even on a free. His wages are going to be steep if he's going on a free.
I think he is excellent and could do a job, but if he wasn't happy sitting on the bench at Man U, why would he do it for Stoke? Our style (which will not change) needs a target man and a chaser to play the percentage and yard game TP playes and Owen would be unable to do either of those roles! If he would be our main striker and we played to feet then excellent, but thats not the case and I dont think he could play 2 games a week in the manner that TP has Walters playing. In addition, he was on 50k + play bonuses at Man U so unsure how we could afford him, given that we are off loading KJ to lower the wage bill. We cant afford to put all or money into a striker like Owen (he could either score 20 goals from 30 games or be fit for only 5 games) and we certainly cant afford to have him cleaning Walters' boots - which ultimatley is going to be the case. Like I said, I would love a player like him, but not under TP and not with no midfield!
I know what you are all saying but a player like him doesnt lose interst IMO, I follow him on twitter and towards the end of the season he was getting desparate and virtually begging Ferguson for a game. If he wasnt interested why wouldnt he just hang up his boots because he doesnt need the money as he has some of the best horses in training and he is worth about £100 million. He has always come across as a honest hard working bloke who has always had my full respect, if anyone can give me evidence of anythinng pointing away from this then please share it with me (and make me look a tool ha ha). Even if we pay him £50000 a week he will still come nowhere near the COST of Kenwyn Jones (and thats without his wages! which I believe is about £40000). We all want to improve our squad and so lets look at our forwards he will be competing against: Kenwyn Jones - probably the biggest waste of money in premiership history. Walters - love his hard work but never going to score many goals Crouch - absolutely brilliant Sidibe - love the bloke but is nowherer near good enough Jerome - I just dont know what this bloke has done but looks like he just isnt one of TPs favourites, looks like he will remain a hidden gem! Lets all remember that it looks like we will sign him on a pay per play basis, for me its worth the punt because if we dont I can see another Demba Ba coming off when someone else signs him. Even having him around the squad giving his experience and knowledge of scoring goals is worth something surely as most of our strikers need a lesson or two in scoring goals.
I think he would fit the side brilliantly with crouch flicking the ball on and Owen running on to it. Also we wouldnt be putting all of our money in as we are supposed to be getting rid of dead wood. Can someone mention another player that we could attract to Stoke with Owens ability? because im stuck.
Ric mate I dont disagree that he is a quality player ( although I dont think he could do a full season of games at 32), but he aint gonna chase the ball like Walters - not that I think this is always productive! They type of player Owen is, is they type we need to improve infront of goal and strectch the oppositions back line, but scoring goals comes from creativity, something we lack! I am in no way defending our style, but TP has made it almost impossible to accomodate a player of the style, which is why the likes of Defo would also be rules out! They cant win the ball in the air and beat 3 or 4 defenders on strength, which when left isolated is what our striker have to do. For me, I would want another winger and a CM like a Ben Arfa, Song, Peinnar, Hoolhan, Osman etc that can get forward, score goals and pass to feet to creat chances. When we have that we could then accomodate an Owen, Defo etc......
Smither's Owen scored 17 goals in 52 apprences for Utd, quite a lot of them, playing only part of a game?? Not bad for a guy who some think it too old and past it! And he's leaving Utd because Alex said he won't offer him another contract. Seen as Utd have a TEAM of player's who can score. I'm with Ric, TAKE A CHANCE Tony
