Michael Owen endured a difficult first appearance at Old Trafford as a Manchester United player last night, spurning a succession of clear-cut chances in front of the watching England manager, Fabio Capello.
Warmly received by the Stretford End at the start of United’s 2-0 friendly victory over Valencia, Owen was gifted four opportunities to create the best of first impressions, only to fire wide three times and put another straight at Cesar Sanchez.
Capello, though, would have been intrigued to see signs of a promising partnership between Owen and Rooney, the scorer of the first goal, developing. It is a pairing Owen hopes will earn him a place in the Italian’s England squad, if not for next week’s friendly in Holland then certainly for the World Cup in South Africa.
Owen has not featured for the national side since the 1-0 defeat in Paris last March and Capello is believed to harbour doubts about the former Liverpool player’s ability to contribute as a team player, not just an out-and-out goalscorer.
Blossoming alongside Rooney at Old Trafford will immeasurably improve his chances of erasing those question marks.
The manager who has given Owen the chance to do so, Sir Alex Ferguson, is adamant he will achieve at least that. Even slightly wayward finishing on his home debut could not detract from Ferguson’s excitement at finally possessing a player he has pursued for 15 years.
“He could have scored four, should have scored four,” said Ferguson. “But his movement in the final third was marvellous.
"It would have been nice for him to score on his first appearance here and he deserved at least one. It was a great ball from Rooney and Michael was really unlucky.”
The Scot remains bullish about the business he has conducted this summer, insisting again that he has no plans to dip further into the £80 million he received from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, a statement reiterated by David Gill, the club’s chief executive.
Owen, Gabriel Obertan and Luis Antonio Valencia, the £16 million signing from Wigan, will be the only summer arrivals.
Valencia looks the part. Ronaldo’s boots are hard ones to fill, but the Ecuadorian could have done little more to get off to a good start.
He was by far United’s best player, creating goals for Rooney and Tom Cleverley, on a night when Ferguson was without six players thanks to a minor injury crisis, though he remains hopeful Nemanja Vidic and Wes Brown will be fit for the start of the season.
He will definitely be without Edwin van der Sar, though, after the 38-year-old goalkeeper was ruled out for two months with a broken finger.
Ben Foster is likely to be given the chance to stake his claim as the Dutch international’s long-term successor, starting at Wembley on Sunday in the Community Shield.
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