by JBG » Wed Jan 12, 2005 11:43 am
I think there is a complete misperception of the Owen situation:
1. Owen left for £8million PLUS Nunez. Why does everybody seem to forget the Nunez part? The value of Nunez at the time is in debate: I have heard that Madrid valued him at £5million whereas Liverpool valued him at around £3million. Either way Owen's true transfer value was between £11million to £13million, both significantly better than the misquoted £8million figure.
2. Owen had less than a year left on his contract. A transfer value of between £11m to £13m for a guy who has a single season left on his contract is extremely good business by the club. Ok, Owen may have been worth £20m to £25m if he was in mid contract, depending on his form and the market place, but with a season left, what we got for him was good business.
3. Ok, so maybe we should have sold me mid contract then, some people might say, and get the £20m to £25million. However, its not that easy. Owen said he was harbouring thoughts of going last season: thats different from saying that he was definitely going. In fairness to Owen, as early as the aftermath of the 1998 World Cup, he said he'd like to play on the Continent some day. It was no secret. He said all along last season that he was confident he'd say, but stated that he hadn't decided 100%. He said all along that he wouldn't leave Liverpool in the lurch by going for free, and he stuck to his word.
4. Neither Liverpool nor Owen knew last season what was happening. Owen wasn't 100% happy professionally. He admitted that he loved Liverpool and said that he could easily have finished his career there, but he eventually decided that he needed a new start, professionally speaking.
5. I also felt that Liverpool needed a new direction other than Owen. Owen is top class, on his day, world class, but his form in the last 2 seasons for Liverpool was patchy and he was getting increasingly injury prone. Who knows what would have happened had Owen stayed, but there were many here last summer on this forum who were advocating we look at alternatives to Owen.
Owen didn't screw us: he kept his word and left for a transfer fee, rather than a Bosman. He gave us some great memories, but life goes on.
Jolly Bob Grumbine.