Michael Owen

In what is being considered a shock move, Manchester United has signed England's former golden boy on a free transfer. It was previously suggested that there was no way a top four club would go for Owen, even Liverpool never ended up registering an interest in him. He was positioning himself to turn down Phil Brown and head for Aston Villa or Everton. That was before Real Madrid snatched Karim Benzema away from Ferguson's hands. That directly led to this move.

Who is the winner here? Michael Owen. Why? Because he's getting paid more than he should be getting paid.

English pundits have been talking about what an ingenious move this is. They have been citing examples like Laurent Blanc, Eric Cantona, and Henrik Larsson as examples for similar transfers. It's true that there are some similarities, and the reasoning goes that Michael Owen is a natural born finisher who will score plenty of goals for Manchester United.

That may or may not be true, but the opportunities will not be as plentiful when contrasted to the last three years that Manchester United have. They have still failed to replace the creative talents of Cristiano Ronaldo, something that will not happen unless in three years Adem Ljajic turns out to be the real deal.

Instead, he'll be a replacement for Carlos Tevez. Do people really imagine he'll get much more playing time than Berbatov (who is a far superior player to Owen)? Rooney will certainly be a more central player in the upcoming year. Playing Owen takes away opportunities from intriguing prospects like Danny Welbeck.

Owen has lost a step. When he lost that, he could never be the same type of player. Imagine what Theo Walcott would be without pace. Worse, he seemed to only pout about not being able to play, instead of being denied an opportunity to help stragglers Newcastle from being relegated. Did it seem like he gave a damn when Newcastle United were relegated? Did anybody from Newcastle United seem to care other than Alan Shearer?

Paul Merson on Sky Sports said that he thought Arsenal should have signed Michael Owen. He was shocked that we weren't in from him, because we needed a player to convert our numerous chances created that went fruitless. England has a love affair for Michael Owen. They went apeshit on Fabio Capello when he was dropped. It doesn't matter that Fabio Capello is the best manager they've had for decades, because Michael Owen is a living legend. Of course, Capello was absolutely right.

Do I want Michael Owen when a player like Eduardo is on our team?

The answer is a resounding no. The truth is that Eduardo is the player that English people think Michael Owen is now. He's the clinical poacher we need and have.