Really quick short post this morning.

Michael Owen it has been announced this morning is out for the rest of the season, after picking up another injury during the Carling Cup Final against Aston Villa, he pulled up in the first half and it was evident that he had pulled his hamstring. After the game Owen said that it didn’t feel that bad, and it shouldn’t keep him out for too long,  obviously now it has been diagnosed in a scan yesterday that the injury is bad enough to force him to miss the rest of the season.

My question is, does Michael call an end to his football career, he has been plagued by injuries most of his career:

2005
December 31 – Breaks metatarsal bone in defeat at Tottenham and is ruled out for ‘several months’.

2006
March 24 – Newcastle announce Owen requires surgery to tighten the screw inserted into his foot during the initial operation.  

April 29 – Makes Premiership return as a substitute against Birmingham but complains of pain afterwards and withdraws from the final game of the season.  

May 13 – Carried from the field suffering concussion after collision with team-mate Matty Pattison in game with Watford.  

June 20 – Injures knee in first minute of group game against Sweden in Cologne and is immediately replaced.  Ruled out for at least nine months and reports suggest he may miss the entire Premiership season to follow.  

2007
July 20 – After featuring in just the final three games of the previous campaign, Owen picks up a thigh injury in pre-season training which rules him out of the first game of the new season.  

September 17 – Owen is substituted early in the second half against Derby with a groin problem.  

September 23 – He is passed fit to line up against West Ham but again the same injury forces him off. Club confirm the striker will undergo further scans to determine extent of the problem.  

September 25 – Magpies boss Sam Allardyce reveals Owen has a 3cm tear in his abductor muscle which will sideline him for three weeks and rule him out of England’s two October Euro 2008 qualifiers. He adds Owen may also require a hernia operation.

November 16 – Suffers a thigh strain during the first half of his side’s 1-0 friendly win over Austria.

2009
January 28 – Ruled out for six weeks with a cracked ankle bone sustained in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City.

March 5 – Ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury

In the last 6 years Owen has only managed to pay 125 games, now someone like Frank Lampard in the same timescale has played about 315 games, that’s Lampard playing 3 games for every 1 that Owen plays, also how many of those games has Michael been 100% fit, you need games to get match sharpness back and get up to full speed, you could probably take the number of games played when he has been fit to around 70-75.

Now at the age of 30 the body will not recover as fast as it used to, and I think this lastest injury could take it’s toll on the former European Player of the Year, and there is no guarentee that he will be able to return for preseason training, which for a player in Michael’s situation is crucial to get up to speed and get his sharpness back, it is very hard to get match sharpness back during a season if you have been out, you need that pre-season time to get ready.

Now on the top right hand side of my site you will see I have set up a new section, where you can Vote on whether you think this is the end for Owen, I really look forward to seeing what everyones views are, so please let you vote count, I will leave the poll open for 2 weeks.