There has been a lot of conjecture of late, particularly in the printed media, about an alleged conflict of interest concerning Michael Owen and whether his priorities lie with his club or his country. Much of this is undoubtedly the press stirring things up in order to sell newspapers. In particular the recent articles in The Sun seem to have gone out of their way to drive a wedge between Owen and Sam Allardyce over the player’s participation in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. And, however lamentable its prose may be at times, it is still the best-selling newspaper in the country and is hugely influential amongst its predominantly male, working class readership.

Owen himself is shrewd enough to know how the media works, having given countless post-match interviews since he was first thrust into the limelight a decade ago as well as having his own column in The Times. It is also somewhat difficult to believe that it is pure coincidence that it was the same newspaper which constantly speculated about Owen’s release clause prior to its being made public. He was, one feels, testing the waters at that time to see if a team playing in the Champions League were willing to take a punt on him after his horrendous injury problems. And who, given the state of Newcastle United in the period since he had joined, could realistically blame him?

Given the articulate, media-savvy individual we are dealing with, Owen’s continued reticence in making bold public statements to reassure Newcastle United supporters that he is committed to the club should, and does, speaks volumes. Part of this is borne out of the same stubborn determination and single-mindedness that has made him one of the best goal-poachers around. It is a trait that explains in part why he gets along so well with Alan Shearer, who is similar in that regard. He simply refuses to be forced into saying things, whether by the former chairman Freddie Shepherd or by those supporters clamouring for assurances about his loyalty to his club. Unlike Shearer though, he does not have the benefit of being from the area and, far more significantly, he has made nowhere near the same contribution on the pitch as the retired Newcastle number nine did. He would do well to take a leaf out of the book of Obafemi Martins, who has said all the right things with regards to Newcastle fans.

So has Michael Owen put his England ambitions well above his duties towards his club since joining the Magpies? There is some evidence to suggest that is the case. When he was injured following a collision with Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson some six months before the 2006 World Cup, his main concern seemed to be getting fit for that tournament. Again, from a purely rational viewpoint, it is difficult to see who would have had different priorities at that. Perhaps he eased himself into fitness more slowly than he normally would have and it is unlikely that Glenn Roeder, merely caretaker boss at the time, would have stood up to a player of Owen’s stature over the issue. In any case, Owen was clearly nowhere near match fit entering the tournament and, even though that may not have been a factor in causing the injury he sustained against Sweden, he was probably increasing the risk of picking up further niggles at the very least. Returning to the present and Owen has said he is perfectly willing to play two games in four days for England despite just returning from a double hernia operation and having made only one substitute appearance for his club since then (albeit scoring the crucial third goal against Everton). Another worrying factor is the game against Russia being played on an artificial surface. Owen himself expressed concerns about this as recently as July stating that he was worried about a recurrence of his knee problem. Those concerns now seem to have been forgotten about now, in public anyway as the player strives towards the all-time England goal-scoring record. And that perhaps hits upon the crux of the issue. The biggest motivation for Owen in his career at present is breaking that record for England and he only needs nine more goals to draw level with Bobby Charlton. He probably feels this outstrips anything he can expect to achieve at Newcastle, and the history books would suggest he is right.