Michael Owen had a fantastic career in football, but the last year of his career at Stoke City was quite strange considering.

He broke out as a superstar on the world stage at the 1998 World Cup, before becoming one of the Premier League’s top strikers at Liverpool.

A treble in 2001 saw him win the Ballon D’or, before making the move to Real Madrid in 2005 as the latest of their Galacticos signings.

However, he lasted just one year in Spain before returning to England. He joined Newcastle United, but his spell at the club was troubled by injuries and eventually saw the club relegated to the Championship.

The striker then made a shock move to Manchester United in the summer of 2009. Owen was brought in as a free transfer and handed the number seven shirt that had been vacated when Cristiano Ronaldo made the move to Madrid in the summer.

He helped the club win the Premier League in his second season at the club, picking up his first ever Premier League medal. However, injuries and being out of favour under Sir Alex Ferguson meant his appearances were limited.

Owen played just 52 times for United in his three years at the club, scoring a respectable 17 goals before being released in the summer of 2012

Owen joined Stoke City on a free transfer in 2012

After his contract with Manchester United expired in the summer of 2012, Michael Owen had very few options after an injury-hit three years.

Liverpool turned down the chance to re-sign the veteran striker, almost a decade after he left the club to join Real Madrid, which left him with few options going into the new season.

He joined Stoke City in September that year, after months of negotiations.

He was signed not as a first-choice striker, but as an option to bring off the bench and add goals, as he had been utilised at United for the past three seasons.

Given his lack of appearances for United in the last three years, Stoke were taking a punt on bringing him in at the time.

Owen’s signing was a strange one, but with a reported pay-per-appearance deal for the striker who had scored 150 Premier League goals in his career, it was one that could have been worth it under certain circumstances.

He retired after just one season at Stoke

Owen’s time at the Britannia can not be labelled a success.

He struggled to break into the first team at Stoke, not being favoured by Tony Pulis despite having just signed for the club.

Strikers like Kenwyn Jones, Peter Crouch and Cameron Jerome were all favoured ahead of him, and Owen didn’t manage to start a single game in the Premier League that season.

Injuries also hampered his time at the club. A hamstring injury from years earlier kept him out for a chunk of the season, and the team was already settled before he could break into the side.

His career at Stoke lasted just one season. It included eight top flight matches, all of which seeing him come from the bench. The former England forward netted just once for the Potters, in a 3-1 defeat against Swansea.

Overall, he managed just 93 minutes in the league for Stoke, being paid around £7000 per minute during his time at the club.

Michael Owen Stats for Stoke City in the Premier League – Transfermarkt
Appearances	Starts	Minutes	Goals	Assists
8	0	93	1	0

At the end of the season and having barely featured for the Potters, Owen announced his retirement from football. The signing of a former Ballon D’or winner should have been a huge thing for a club like Stoke, but the move was anything but impressive.

Owen’s pace had gone and he struggled mentally to alter that part of his game. He could not get into the positions he once did, and his game relied so much on his blistering pace that he could not be as effective as he once was.

He was just 33-years-old at the time. With 89 England caps and 40 goals for his country, he should have been a top striker for Stoke. However, it was clear when he signed that he was in no fit state the lead the line in the Premier League, and the signing was a strange one overall for the club.