Michael Owen was a star at Liverpool before injuries dented his career. He signed for fierce rivals Manchester United in 2009 after wanting to move back to Anfield.

Michael Owen in action against Liverpool during his time with Manchester United .Michael Owen risked his Liverpool legacy when he joined fierce rivals Manchester United.

Owen came through the ranks at Anfield and spent eight seasons in the first team before signing for Real Madrid in 2004.

After just one year in Spain, he returned to the Premier League with Newcastle and had four injury-hit years at St. James’ Park.

With his contract expiring in 2009, Owen had his sights set on a return to Liverpool but once that move didn’t materialize, he ended up making a controversial switch to Old Trafford.

He signed a two-year deal with United with Sir Alex Ferguson delighted to sign Owen, hailing him as a “world-class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level”.

In 2020, Owen told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I was leaving Newcastle and the first thing I did was phone Carra [Jamie Carragher] and said ‘speak to Rafa Benitez’. Carra got back to me and said ‘no, he’s about to sign someone’. I think it was David N’Gog, but he had already had some great players in the team and basically, they didn’t need another center-forward.

“My agent then spoke to virtually every club on the planet to see who was interested and the options were Hull City, Everton and Manchester United. You can imagine my thought process go to Everton, get hated, go to Man United and get hated as well.

“As soon as I heard United were in for me then I thought, obviously first choice would be Liverpool and to go back there but if Liverpool aren’t going to want me and these are all my options then wow, Manchester United in the Champions League, I don’t have to move, I know loads of the lads. It was a brilliant move.

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“I couldn’t believe my luck when United came in for me. Here’s me, regressing as a player in my own mind and still the champions of England wanted to sign me. I was absolutely buzzing when they wanted me.”

Owen ended up playing just 52 times for Manchester United, scoring 17 goals in a three-year spell. He did find the net in the Manchester derby, scoring a dramatic injury-time winner in September 2009 as United beat City 4-3. The ex-England striker spent one year at Stoke before retiring in 2013.

The conversation around him has recently been struck up again with Jamie Carragher commenting on Owen during the most recent episode of The Overlap in a chat about football’s biggest traitors. “I’m aware of the situation when he went to Man Utd,” Carragher said. “He wanted to come back to Liverpool.”

Liverpool.com says: Owen was clearly keen on returning to Anfield but Liverpool had its reservations due to the striker’s injury record. Few ex-Liverpool players would even think about joining Manchester United but Owen had no issues in joining the fierce rivals. He was only ever a back-up option at Old Trafford and in truth, was never the same player after leaving Liverpool.