Home is where heart is
Aug 16 2005
By Ian Rush, Liverpool Echo
PEOPLE often use the expression 'you should never go back'.
I heard it enough times when I was a Juventus player when there was a lot of speculation about me returning to Liverpool.
After one year in Turin, I wanted to come home. For every person telling me to go back to Anfield, someone else would be saying it would never be the same.
I know I made the right decision. Kenny Dalglish made it clear he wanted me so I turned down Roma, Rangers, Bayern Munich and Manchester United to go back to Anfield.
The League championship, FA Cup and League Cup winners' medals I won during my second spell ensure I have no regrets about the decision when I look back at my career.
Michael Owen know finds himself in a similar position to me. It's amazing how similar my and Michael's careers are.
We both grew up in North Wales and have a similar attitude. We're both ambitious but value our home comforts as much as our football.
If Michael comes back to England, a lot of people will say, just like they did to me, he didn't succeed abroad and will regret he left Liverpool in the first place.
I beg to differ. Michael and I took opportunities we had to take at similar stages of our career. If I hadn't joined Juventus, or Michael gone to Madrid, we'd both have looked back years later thinking what might have been. It was inevitable he'd test himself abroad eventually.
He'll come back to England a better all-round footballer
Yes, leaving Liverpool does make you realise what you've left behind, but that's all part of the experience of being a player. Like me, if Michael returns he'll be hoping he spends the rest of the prime of his career at the club.
Considering he's still only 25, the price of losing Michael for one season may actually prove to have been a sacrifice worth paying considering he'll now probably be at Liverpool until he's at least 30 if he returns.
Like every Liverpool supporter, I'm hoping it happens.
I'd dread going to Anfield to see Michael playing in anything but a red shirt. I just know he'd score against us.
He's also the one striker of his type Liverpool don't currently possess. He could form a partner-ship with all the other forwards, particularly Peter Crouch and Fernando Morientes.
Michael didn't leave the club on bad terms, he has a good relationship with the fans and if the manager wants him I couldn't imagine him going anywhere else.
United pose a threat
MY EXPECTATION is for a top four finish by Liverpool this season, but I'm sure they'll be a lot closer to the top.
Chelsea are clearly going to be up there, as will Arsenal, although I think they'll miss Patrick Vieira.
My own tip for the title is Manchester United. I've always been a huge Ruud van Nistelrooy fan and if he's back to his best, they'll have a formidable strikeforce with Rooney and Ronaldo.
My fear all summer has been them trying to add Michael Owen, which would make them even greater.
