Michael Owen: I want to play for England again

Michael Owen has declared he wants his England place back.

The Manchester United striker, formerly England’s no.1, has been out of the picture since March 2008 when he made his only appearance under Fabio Capello against France.

Since then Owen has been out in the cold with his lack of football and his poor injury record counting against him.

But the marksman, who insists he will be fit for the start of the new season, has revealed he has not given up on playing for his country.

He said: “I missed this tournament through injury and whether I would have been selected or not is a different matter.

“But I have definitely not retired from international football. If ever I was called upon I would go. Everyone will scrutinise the World Cup and then, hopefully, in a couple of weeks everyone will start getting excited about the Premier League.

“I am no different; I have obviously been working away through the summer and looking forward to the new Premier League starting. We will put that behind us, learn for the future and hopefully get a better result in the next tournament.

“‘I have been to five tournaments, three World Cups and two European Championships so it has been different watching it. You find yourself almost having a manager’s point of view, or a fan’s point of view for that matter and it is a totally different way of watching a World Cup.

“It has been frustrating for everyone. I have never known so many questions come out of a tournament and so many different opinions about why it went so wrong. Everyone has their say and you can probably point to many different things that could improve it in the future.”

Owen has scored 40 goals in 89 appearances for England and is tantalisingly nine goals short of Sir Bobby Charlton’s record at international level.

Owen’s season ended prematurely back in February when, after scoring in the Carling Cup Final against Aston Villa, he injured his hamstring and was subbed at half time.

Speaking at a BT event in central London to launch the company’s Premier League football for next season, he revealed for the first time the extent of the injury that wrecked his campaign.

He added: “It was probably the worst place to get an injury, at Wembley in a cup Final. I tore my hamstring, it came apart basically.

“We will never know [whether it was the pitch], but what we do know is that there were a lot of injuries that came out of that game.

“But anyway I basically I ruptured my hamstring. You have three hamstrings, I ruptured/tore the main one. Totally gone. So basically it would have attached somewhere else in the leg, wherever it may be.

“I would have been able to run but I would not have had the full length that you have. I had a lot of injuries on the right one at Liverpool, and that takes a yard off your speed I that had happened with this one I would have been slower than my dad!

“So had it done. I had the operation in England. The surgeon said said a lot of rugby players and water skiers have a similar injury, though its rare in football. He’d done about 16 the year before though so it was reasonably safe. “

“The surgery was to tie it back together and I have been working throughout the summer to try to get fit. I am at the stage where I am not sprinting, but I am kicking balls, striding, running around and doing everything to strengthen it.

“I will be ready for the start of season it is just a question of what pre-season games I am going to be ready for. I might miss the first one or two on tour in America.”

Michael Owen is an ambassador for BT Vision’s launch of Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2. Starting from just £6.99 for Sky Sports 1, ESPN and on-demand Sport from BT Vision. Visit www.BT.com/sport