Gerard Houllier has reiterated that he would love to be reunited with Michael Owen at Villa Park.
Villa boss would love to be reunited with former Reds striker
Gerard Houllier has reiterated that he would love to be reunited with Michael Owen at Villa Park.
The former England striker played under Houllier for six years at Liverpool, with the pair both departing Anfield in 2004.
And the Aston Villa boss has made no secret of his admiration for Owen, who will be out of contract at Manchester United in the summer.
The French tactician, whose Villa side play old club Liverpool on Monday, told
The Mail on Sunday: "I would love to bring him here.
"He would be good for the group and has a joyful attitude to playing."
Ronaldo admission
Meanwhile, Houllier has revealed he wanted to sign Cristiano Ronaldo when Liverpool boss but was not allowed to break the club's wage structure.
Instead, the Portuguese superstar went on to help Manchester United win three titles and a UEFA Champions League and Houllier, who has been criticised for some of his signings in his later years with the Reds, admits he may have helped bring the Premier League crown to Anfield had he signed.
The Frenchman added: "I saw him in the Toulon Under-21 tournament and we went for him, but we had a wage scale and we weren't paying the sort of salary he wanted.
"Then Manchester United played a friendly against Sporting Lisbon and all their boys said to Sir Alex Ferguson, 'You have to sign him'. But I agreed with not breaking the wage structure. I thought it would cause problems in our dressing room.
"I know some of the signings were not as sharp as they could have been. Maybe we would have won the title with Ronaldo, but we had Harry Kewell, who was outstanding at the time and was very hungry but got a bad injury.
"After that, he never had the same confidence, the same appetite."
