Owen one of England's greats, says Hoddle

Hoddle gave Owen his debut in 1998, included him in his World Cup squad for the 1998 finals in France, and was rewarded with a sensational goal from the teenager against Argentina.

"He is in the top four of our greatest ever finishers, along with Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer," Hoddle told Sky Sports News.

"Some might say he is at the top of that list.

"He was a baby-faced assassin. His finishing was amazing for a young man. He had that coolness in the penalty box. Some players get anxious but he seemed to get calmer and calmer.

"Michael also had that wonderful intelligence to make the right movement to stay onside. He must have been a nightmare to defend against."

Hoddle recalls Owen's wonder goal against Argentina with fondness - "it was such a wonderful way to announce himself to the world" - but admits that injuries curtailed his achievements.

"When you have that blistering pace you do have hamstring problems. It is a shame really that he didn't go on and eclipse a load of records."

Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was in charge for one of Owen's most memorable nights when he scored a hat-trick in the 5-1 away win over Germany, described him as a model professional.

"He's always been a fantastic football player, for all the clubs he played for. He's a danger all the time," Eriksson said.

"First of all he's a fantastic man and professional. You never had any problems with Michael Owen, on the pitch or off the pitch. He was always professional in his way, and you knew if you had him in your team he's a danger and he can score the winning goal.

"With him there's always a smile, never a problem. He's one of those players out there who can win the game for you and he did so many times in his career.

"The only problem with Michael Owen was his injuries and it's been going on for a long, long time. He's been unlucky because he couldn't work as hard as he wanted and he missed too many games.

"That's a pity for him, a pity for England, a pity for the clubs he played for and the pity for football."

 

England midfielder Frank Lampard believes Owen will be remembered as one of the country's greatest goalscorers.

"He has had a fantastic career. He's a player I am very proud to have played alongside," Lampard said.

"He will go down as one of the greatest goalscorers that we've had. He deserves very high praise.

"Without the injury problems that he had he probably would have broken those goalscoring records.

"If he has any frustration it would be that, but he shouldn't have any.

"His career has been tremendous for club and country."

Asked what his abiding memory of Owen's career would be, Lampard also picked out the goal against Argentina over his hat-trick against Germany.

"The Argentina goal," he said.

"The hat-trick in Munich was fantastic. He was at the top of his game.

"But to come on at the age he did and score a goal of such eye-catching quality - I was a fan at that stage. I couldn't have done something like that at that age, run past five Argentinian defenders.

"It is one of the moments that sticks in my mind about England not just Michael Owen."