Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English football forward who currently plays for and captains English Championship side Newcastle United. He is currently the fourth-highest scorer for the England national team with forty goals. The son of former footballer Terry Owen, he progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997. In his first full season in the Premier League he finished as joint top scorer. He repeated the feat the following year and was Liverpool\s top goal scorer from 1997–2004, in spite of a recurring hamstring injury. His first major club honours came in 2001 when Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d\Or that year. Owen moved to Real Madrid for £8�million in mid-2004 but was frequently used as a substitute. In spite of this, he scored 13 goals