Michael Owen ruffled a few feathers yesterday when he claimed that his price tag would be comparable to that of Kylian Mbappe’s in today’s market. Oddly so, given how good the ex-Liverpool striker was.
Mbappe became the second-most expensive player in history when he moved from Monaco to PSG in 2018 for a reported £163 million pounds, a year after signing on a FFP-enforced loan, and won the World Cup in the same summer, scoring in the final.
To borrow a Micah Richards quote, Owen similarly burst onto the scene, breaking into the Liverpool team at the end of the 1996-97 team, aged just 17.
His first two full seasons in top level football were a whirlwind – back-to-back joint Premier League Golden Boots, the PFA Young Player of the Year award and of course that goal against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup.
Owen’s exploits in the 2000-2001 season, where he helped Liverpool win a cup treble and scored a hat-trick in England’s 5-1 win evisceration of Germany, saw him land the Ballon d’Or award aged just 21, making him the second youngest player to do so.
Football - 1998 FIFA World Cup - Second Round - England v Argentina - Stade Geoffroy Guichard, Saint Etienne - 30/6/98
Pic : Brandon Malone / Action Images
England's Michael Owen takes on Argentina's Jose Chamot (Right) & Javier Zanetti
What did Owen say about Mbappe?
What did Owen exactly say on the matter of his value in the current market when asked in an interview with AceOdds?
"So, if it was an open market, free market, when I was 19, 20 and at the absolute peak of my powers. I don't know, you're talking £100-something million probably, I guess it's hard to say.
"Well, what’s Mbappe worth nowadays? I really don't know. If he was to leave PSG, you'd be looking at £150m, £200m maybe? So, if a Mbappe was worth £150m to £200m, I don't know. But yeah, I was that similar type of player who was breaking through, winning the Ballon d'Or, won two golden boots and went to the World Cup at 18 and all that kind of stuff."
So, while Owen is rather accurately depicted as a boring pundit these days whose Love Island daughter’s current fame is possibly eclipsing his own, he should still be remembered for the incredible footballer he was.
It doesn’t help that his career peaked so early, and the last five or six seasons of his career saw him become a shadow of his once great self.
VIDEO: Caragher & Neville exposed (The Football Terrace)
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As well as a Ballon d’Or, Owen has also achieved another of Mbappe’s supposed dream, playing and scoring for Real Madrid. For a season at least anyway.
Mbappe’s future is sure to be a talking point post World Cup, with the player reportedly unhappy at PSG for a myriad reason.
He’ll cost a pretty penny for any potential suitor, with Transfermarkt currently judging him to be the most valuable player in the world at £144m, strangely just ahead of Erling Haaland (£135m) and potential future teammate Vinicius Jr. (£108m). Throw an extra £50m on before PSG start talking.
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