Michael Owen does not believe the recent uncertainty surrounding Wayne Rooney affected Man Utd.
Owen glad colleague has signed new long-term deal with United
Manchester United ace Michael Owen does not believe the recent uncertainty surrounding Wayne Rooney affected the club.
Rooney has attracted criticism from some fans after telling Sir Alex Ferguson he had no intention of signing a new contract before carrying out an apparent U-turn and penning a new five-year deal with the Red Devils last week.
The England striker also appeared to question the ambition of the club prior to signing his new deal but Owen believes the contract uncertainty did not affect the club.
Instead Owen, who has suffered a setback in his recovery from injury and is set to be sidelined for a few more weeks, is glad Rooney has committed his long-term future to the club.
He said: "I don't think (there was) any (affect), really.
"Everyone seems to be happy now. The club have got a world-class player signed for five years and obviously Wayne's happy and the manager's happy.
Obviously ambitious
"Wayne is obviously ambitious and the club's ambitious. He wouldn't have signed if he had any doubts.
"I don't think there was a change of mind. The press can look into things like that, the why and what and all the rest of it."
United boss Ferguson revealed both he and the rest of the squad received an apology from Rooney for his comments regarding the club's direction, and Owen feels he was right to do so.
He said: "If there was any confusion, then maybe so.
"A lot has been made out of it but half of it is just to fill papers because of the size of the club and the stature of the player.
"Cutting out all the rubbish, the main thing is that he's signed.
"It's better having Wayne Rooney in your squad than not, so we're all happy in that way."
Sweeping generalisations
Footballers earning massive salaries have been branded by some as being out of touch with the rest of society, but Owen insists sweeping generalisations are unfair on many professionals.
"People like to judge footballers as a whole but I think that's pretty unfair," he said.
"Everyone's different. I've met some footballers that are absolutely fantastic people, are always visiting sick kids, they do things for charities, but they don't ask for any press coverage.
"They just go about it because they want to do it. Some don't, but that's not to say they're bad people.
"I think it's dangerous if you generalise and say 'all footballers are this, all footballers are that'.
"We're all individuals, we all do our different things, and the common thing is we all go out on a Saturday afternoon and play on the football pitch.
"But apart from that every footballer's different."
