Michael Owen brutally reveals why he still regrets Newcastle move | OneFootball

Michael Owen became the then most expensive player in Newcastle history when they signed him from Real Madrid in 2005.

But it is a switch that to this day, he regrets making.

In an extract from his upcoming autobiography Reboot: My Life, My Time which was published by the Mirror, he has opened up on the move he never wanted to make.

“My move to Newcastle was one I really regret because I should have followed my gut instincts from the start,” Owen wrote.

“I didn’t want to go there and my heart was set on a return to Liverpool. Florentino Pérez told me if I wanted to stay I could stay and if I wanted to go I could go.

“I told him I wanted to go to Liverpool but he said it wasn’t possible unless they matched Newcastle’s offer.

“That statement was a dagger to my heart. I had two options and I didn’t particularly fancy either of them.

“A move to the north east was a downward step. If I only thought of money, Newcastle blew everyone out of the water as they were offering me £120,000 a week.

“But my feelings weren’t a reflection on Newcastle specifically. I didn’t want to sign with any club that wasn’t Liverpool.”

While that may seem like extending an olive branch to the Magpies faithful, the 39-year-old went on to tear into the club and fanbase.

“My relationship with them was damaged beyond repair when I was stretchered off against Watford and they sang ‘what a waste of money’,” he continued.

“That changed things for me. The love affair, if you could call it that, was almost over.

“There is a kind of blind delusion that is especially true of Newcastle, who are only a big club in the sense that they have a lot of fans and a big stadium.

“They’re historically not successful off the pitch, in fact quite the opposite and they’ve not won much on it in recent times.”