Michael Owen has admitted his best years were behind him by the time he signed for Newcastle United in 2005.
The former England star received a warm and welcome Geordie reception when he arrived from Real Madrid.
But he left under a cloud four years later after some injury ravaged years and with a backdrop of relegation - before signing for Manchester United to add salt into open wounds.
Owen, who made 58 starts for Newcastle in the Premier League and scored 26 times, Michael Owen vows to 'set the record straight' on Newcastle United spell in new tell-all book .
In the early publicity interviews, Owen was asked about whether he was at his peak when he arrived from La Liga, he said: "It’s a good question because in the last six years, I was just a very good player.
"You could argue that I wasn’t a world-class player in the last half-a-dozen years, possibly not in my last sort of six years.
"Your mind and memory gets brought to the more recent things, so a 15 or 20-year-old person now is probably thinking ‘well I remember him at Newcastle, he was all right.
"At Stoke he barely played.
"What’s the fuss about?
"So I suppose it’s only the 30-35 onwards that can cast their minds back.
"And of course, not many people saw me when I was seven to 17.
"I reckon if I was that standard in this day and age, people would be making headlines now with the records I was breaking.
"So you could say, I always talk about it when I’m on the TV circuit and people say the same thing, referring to what you just said.
"I guess it’s not for me to say, but that (Ballon d’Or) says more than a million words, doesn’t it?”
For more information on Owen's book and to watch the full video go to Reach Sport .
Michael Owen vows to 'set the record straight' on Newcastle United spell in new tell-all book
