There’s a certain type of football player who shines brightest early on—the kind who scores on his Premier League debut at age 17 and leaves the crowd wondering what they just saw. That player was Michael Owen. Many quick-starters become unknown after they take off their shoes, but Owen has quietly built something pretty big in the years since he retired in 2013.
Betting tips website OLBG.com did some research and found that he is worth about £54.4 million. With that much money, he is 16th on a list of the 20 richest racehorse owners in Britain. He is squished between actress Elizabeth Hurley and Sir Alex Ferguson, who used to manage Manchester United. That sounds almost poetic. Owen seemed to be in a world between two others. He was fast enough to be at the very top, but he was always just on the edge of the elite level.
His football career brought in a lot of money on its own. After coming up through Liverpool’s youth program, they signed him as an adult. He scored 158 goals in 297 games for the club before leaving for Real Madrid in 2004 for £8 million. He won the Ballon d’Or in 2001, which is a huge accomplishment for a young English striker. That same year, he also helped Liverpool win three trophies by scoring two famous late goals in the FA Cup final. Pelé put him on the FIFA 100 list of the best living players in the world in 2004. The endorsements, contracts, and business chances that came with being well-known don’t just go away.
He came back to England from Madrid for £16.8 million, and even though injuries ruined a lot of that season, he was captain of the team and scored the most goals in 2007–08. He then moved for free to Manchester United, where he stayed visible at the highest level of football even though he didn’t score many goals. There was always more money coming in.
Owen’s life after football is interesting because of what he did with it. He co-owns a racing business with trainer Hugo Palmer out of the modest-sounding Manor House Stables in Malpas, Cheshire. The story is based on Shay Lane, which is very different from the Santiago Bernabéu. That’s the point, though. Owen purposely took a step away from the attention. Being a pundit and a commentator kept him relevant without having to work hard to be relevant.
It’s still not clear how much of his wealth comes from bloodstock and racing and how much comes from property and business ventures he had in the past. When it comes to private people, net worth numbers always have a margin of error. That being said, £54.4 million is not a number that just appeared out of thin air, and Owen’s long history in horse racing, which is a very lucrative business, makes the number seem likely.
The fact that Owen is on that list says a lot. American billionaire John Malone is at the top of the list. His Ballylinch Stud in County Kilkenny has produced 19 Group 1 winners, and he has a personal fortune of £8.5 billion. King Charles III is worth £1.8 billion. At this point, Owen is neither a titan nor a footnote. He is somewhere in the middle. That really does look like the place he’d want to be.
Someone once said that this man was the most exciting teenager in European football. His life now seems very quiet, almost on purpose. The stables are. The booth for commentary. the slow, careful process of turning money that has been saved into something that will last. That might be the smartest move he’s ever made.
