Owen left Liverpool and the Premier League to join Real Madrid in the summer of 2004 but spent just a season in La Liga before transferring back to England to join Newcastle for £16m.
Owen’s time at Saint James’ park was riddled with injuries as he struggled to live up to expectations and following the club’s relegation to the Championship in 2009, he joined Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United on a free transfer.
A decade on from his Newcastle exit, Owen, who won the Ballon d’or in 2001, has revealed in a book titled ‘Reboot - My Life, My Time,’ that he only ended up at the Magpies because Liverpool were financially unhealthy to take him back.
“My move to Newcastle was one I really regret - I should have followed my gut instincts from the start. I didn’t want to go there - my heart was still set on a return to Liverpool,” Owen said.
“Liverpool couldn’t match Newcastle’s offer. From a career perspective, there was no doubt in my mind that a move to the North East was a downward step.”
"As unpalatable as that opinion might be to Newcastle fans, that's more or less what I felt.
"A fee was agreed. Meanwhile, Newcastle wanted to send their chairman Freddy Shepherd and the chief executive down in person to my house to sign the contract. Everything was moving unsettlingly fast.
"I was getting increasingly cold feet about the whole idea. If I was thinking only of the money, Newcastle blew everyone out of the water. That was indisputable. They were offering me a hundred and twenty grand a week.
"When they arrived at my house, I was resigned to the fact it was happening. No Newcastle fan will particularly want to hear this but, as this book is about truth, that's the honest truth."
