Michael Owen and Alan Shearer’s long-term bitter feud has been put to one side in an unlikely new twist.
The former England and Newcastle United team-mates used to be good friends and strike partners, but have been involved in several online spats in recent years after falling out during their time together at St. James’ Park. Shearer even described Owen as “a good mate” in his autobiography before playing him in seven of his eight matches as Newcastle boss in 2009.
However, their relationship has since soured in the years since, before Owen recently cooled their beef by including Shearer in his all-time Premier League XI.
READ MORE: Win 2 tickets to watch England vs Germany in Nations League action at Wembley Stadium
He included Shearer in attack alongside Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo, explaining, via The Mirror: “The highest scorer in the Premier League. An absolute monster of a centre forward.”
Shearer scored an astonishing 260 goals in 441 Premier League appearances for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United during his playing career.
Owen’s full team, which lines up in a 4-3-3 formation, is: Peter Schmeichel; Gary Neville, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole; Steven Gerrard, Patrick Vieira, Paul Scholes; Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer.
The former Liverpool striker also admitted it was “very, very difficult” to leave out another former team-mate in the form of Wayne Rooney.
What is your all-time Premier League XI? Let us know in the comments section below.
Shearer and Owen’s feud appears to have stemmed from their time together at Newcastle, where they played alongside each other on 10 separate occasions.
In his own autobiography, Owen wrote: “There has been a lot of lies, bulls*** and general mis-information surrounding the end of my time at Newcastle.
“Sadly, this feud has continued to the present day. The more I think about it, the more I understand why Alan behaves the way he does and continues to spread negativity about me whenever he can.
“He was brought in at St. James’ Park as the saviour, the local boy. It could have been a great story. But he failed. Newcastle United were relegated. Perhaps rather than examine his own shortcomings, it felt easier to blame Michael Owen.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Shearer responded at the time of the book’s release by tweeting a video of Owen discussing his late career and saying: “I hated it, I couldn’t wait to retire.”
The Match of the Day pundit accompanied the clip by writing: “Yes Michael, we thought that also, whilst on £120k a week…” Owen hit back, though, replying: “Not sure you are as loyal to Newcastle as you make out mate.
“I distinctly remember you being inches away from signing for Liverpool after Sir Bobby Robson put you on the bench. You tried everything to get out.”
READ NEXT: