Writing in his new book, which is released later this week , Owen said: "Right at the beginning of the 2005/06 season in Madrid (the English season had already been running for a few weeks by this stage) the President of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, knocked on my hotel room door one day while we were preparing for a game.
"‘Newcastle has made a bid in the region of sixteen million pounds,’ he told me, ‘If you want to go, then you can go. If you want to stay, you can stay.’ For many reasons, my staying at Madrid really wasn’t a viable option. I would have been very lonely and Louise wouldn’t have been able to endure being away from friends and family any longer.
"‘But I want to go to Liverpool,’ I told him.
"I’d be being dishonest at this point if I didn’t admit that the heroics of Istanbul were weighing on my mind. As much as I was delighted for all my mates that had lifted the cup, on a personal level I wasn’t just disappointed – I was jealous.
"I know that doesn’t sound great, but that’s how it felt. Had they won it five years after I left, that would have been one thing, but the very next season? That was tough to take.
"‘That’s not possible unless they match Newcastle’s offer,’ he said.
"At the time, that statement was a dagger in the heart. I was being presented with two options – neither of which I particularly fancied.
"Looking back now, Madrid’s position was perfectly understandable I suppose. Football is business after all. But for the naïve people out there who think footballers always call the shots, this is an example of a scenario where I just didn’t have a choice."
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Heres my question, why not tell Madrid that he'd only join Liverpool?
"‘Newcastle has made a bid in the region of sixteen million pounds,’ he told me, ‘If you want to go, then you can go. If you want to stay, you can stay.’ For many reasons, my staying at Madrid really wasn’t a viable option. I would have been very lonely and Louise wouldn’t have been able to endure being away from friends and family any longer.
"‘But I want to go to Liverpool,’ I told him.
"I’d be being dishonest at this point if I didn’t admit that the heroics of Istanbul were weighing on my mind. As much as I was delighted for all my mates that had lifted the cup, on a personal level I wasn’t just disappointed – I was jealous.
"I know that doesn’t sound great, but that’s how it felt. Had they won it five years after I left, that would have been one thing, but the very next season? That was tough to take.
"‘That’s not possible unless they match Newcastle’s offer,’ he said.
"At the time, that statement was a dagger in the heart. I was being presented with two options – neither of which I particularly fancied.
"Looking back now, Madrid’s position was perfectly understandable I suppose. Football is business after all. But for the naïve people out there who think footballers always call the shots, this is an example of a scenario where I just didn’t have a choice."
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Heres my question, why not tell Madrid that he'd only join Liverpool?
