Michael Owen shuts down Wayne Rooney debate with emphatic claim: 'Please!'

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Owen netted 158 goals in 297 appearances for the club over eight years and won the Ballon d’Or as a 22-year-old in 2001.

He carried that form over into international football, registering 40 goals in 89 appearances for England, a record that aids the comparison with Rooney.

He also comfortably passed Owen’s tally of 150 Premier League goals, reaching 208, and his number with England, notching 53 from 120 games.



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While both were undoubtedly great English strikers, the question of who was better at an early age has been raised on social media.

Match of the Day posed the question on X: “Who was the better player at the age of 17, Michael Owen or Wayne Rooney?”

Owen replied: “At 17 I scored 18 PL goals (winning the Golden Boot), Wazza scored 6.

In our opening 7 seasons, Wazza didn’t outscore me once (117 goals v 80).

“In which time I became the 2nd youngest Ballon d’Or winner ever.

Forget all the achievements, there will never ever be a two-time Golden Boot winner as a 17-year-old and 18-year-old in the Premier League.”

Michael Owen was a goalscoring machine in his early years at Liverpool(Image: Michael Steele/Getty Images)

He added: “I sort of split my career into two: almost Liverpool and maybe Madrid, and then afterwards, because I just wasn't the same.

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