MANCHESTER United striker Wayne Rooney has welcomed the news fellow England striker Michael Owen would soon be terrorising defenders in the Barclays Premiership again as "good for English football."
Owen, 25, was absent from training with the rest of the national team in order to complete his transfer to Newcastle, where he was greeted with a hero's welcome by the St James' Park faithful after signing a four-year deal.
Following a difficult spell in Spain at Real Madrid, Owen will now be set for regular first-team football with the Magpies, essential in his, and England's, preparation for the World Cup next year.
Owen, however, will not feature in Saturday's qualifier against Wales at the Millennium Stadium because of suspension, leaving Rooney and Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe to lead the attack.
Rooney, though, is in no doubt of the impact Owen's return will have, both for club and country.
"I think it's good for English football, Owen coming back," Rooney declared.
"He is a great player and has scored a lot of goals in the Premiership and hopefully he can carry that on for Newcastle.
"It's good to have him back in English football - and it will help him as well."
Following the ill-fated friendly against Denmark earlier this month, when England were thumped 4-1 in Copenhagen, there is extra pressure on Sven-Goran Eriksson's men to deliver a strong performance against the Welsh this weekend.
Painful
The squad have been shown a video of the game and Rooney maintains everyone is determined to banish those painful memories with a convincing display at the Millennium Stadium.
"We were all disappointed after the Denmark game and I think we're happy the Wales game has come round soon so we can put it right," added the 19-year-old on Sky Sports News.
"It was disappointing watching the video. We were embarrassed more than anything and we don't want to do that again."
England may have beaten Wales 2-0 at Old Trafford last year but they will face a much-changed outfit when John Toshack sends his team out in Cardiff, seeking to prove a point as he builds for the future with the chances of qualifying for Germany now all but over.
A positive result both on Saturday, and then against Northern Ireland in Belfast next week, is also crucial to England's hopes of beating Poland to top spot in Group Six, and with it an automatic place in next summer's finals.
Rooney insists there will be no underestimating the challenge which awaits in the Millennium Stadium.
"It will be a tough game, and a real battle," Rooney said.
"We will be preparing for that anyway, so hopefully we can come back with three points."
He added: "Wales are a good team and have got some good players - we know most of them from the Premiership.
"I work with Giggsy every day, so I see what he can do. If we can keep Giggsy quiet then we should win the game."
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Rooney, and for that matter all English fans, would be even more delighted had Owen joined him at the red Utd instead the black/white Utd. What a strike force it would be for Rooney to play just behind Ruud/Owen, supported by Ronaldo/Giggs(or Park) on the wings? Does anyone realise that such a strike force is stronger than the England's team? In another word, on paper, Utd would beat England had they met. England has a very good chance of winning the world cup next year, that is for real, but we would forever kicking ourselves the missed opportunity to be crowned the English, European and world champion had we signed Owen, that is regrettable. Not that Utd didn't have the financial resource to buy Owen, Gill had made it absolutely clear as much, but Owen just didn't fit into Sir Alex's single striker's plan. I have great doubts of Sir Aex's single striker's policy. Its deficiency has already been exposed in matches we played this season so far, not to mention many other matches since Sir Alex introduced it in an attempt to win the Champion League again posted 1999. Yes, a five men midfield wins the control of the play as statistics have showed, Utd were in control of the games more than any other premiership team last season, but the lone striker tactics also greatly reduced our ability to score, as evidenced by our lowest scoring rate amongst the top teams. It is strange that Sir Alex, a keen lover for horse racing and a risk taker, has chosen to play safe, when winning the top honour requires at least a little bit of risk taking. I think Sir Alex will live to regret the decision not to sign Owen this summer, and hence his dream of wining the CL more than once, which, we know, will define his absolute supremacy in the history book as the Utd's and English most successful manager to be matched by no followers for decades. What a pity.
I liked the idea of Owen coming to UNITED and some felt otherwise! UNITED were in a luxurious position,whereby they didn't need to buy him but if we could get him at a bargain price he'd be a useful addition.No one seemed to think he would cost B#16-17million.Most felt we could buy him for 10 or 12.He simply cost too much for someone we didn't need.Good business UNITED.Rossi may be able to step in on occasion and prove he's as good.We all hope so!
SAF is a total fool not to have bought Owen. He will score more goals for Newcastle than RvN will for Utd. Mind you, Andy Cole will score more for City as well ! See you all on the 10th you bunch of rag dreamers ! Andy Cole will score the winner because RF is a joke of a defender and will gift us so many chances! Who's Top of the Prem ? Not you !
I bet he wishes he was playing alongside him, rather than ARKLE who has peaked and now is nowhere near the player he was.Like several members of the current squad,Manager and Coach.
If Owen is so good, why did neither Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool sign him . The first two are known to be searching a quality striker.
Owen is definitely a good player but he gives coaches tactical dilemma. He cannot play as a main striker because he is too small for such a role so he is usually deployed as a second striker (or even as a super-sub as at Madrid). However many coaches prefer the second striker to be a more creative player rather than a simple even if effective goal grabber. If Owen was to come to United, Rooney would be given the main striker role which is a pity. Rooney's best when he is free to roam behind the main striker where he is given time and space to create lots of chances for the rest of the team and for himself.
And the price paid by Newcastle was too much imo, even if for Newcastle it may make financial sense. Newcastle were desperate to land a star player for their miserable outfit. Having no star players apart from their ageing forward, they needed a famous player for their merchandising. At United Owen would have been just one of the 11. I still think that Fergie would have like to have him at OT but definitely we are not in a position to go in a bidding war with anyone at the moment.
United could easily have afforded the 16million for Owen and by selling Saha (soon I hope, because he doesn't score goals!)United would scrape some of the money back! More importantly, Owen up front with Ruud, supported by the great Rooney and Ronaldo...what a strike force that would have been. United missed out there...a big gain for N'castle Utd I'm sorry to say!
There is surely some way of stopping these idiots posting comments? Ruud past it?