VALDANO'S OWEN BLAST

The bizarre claim is not really supported by the list of previous winners, as the last Englishman to achieve the coveted title of European Footballer of the Year was Kevin Keegan, way back in 1979.

Luis Figo is the current holder of the trophy, with Rivaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Matthias Sammer, George Weah, Hristo Stoichkov, Roberto Baggio, Marco van Basten, Jean-Pierre Papin and Lothar Matthaus all successful during the nineties.

"Raul is likely to be the only rival to Owen," Valdano stated.

"Politically, it is always good that an English player takes it.

"This is what troubles me. It is necessary to wait because there are many occasions in which logic does not prevail.

"Totti? He is an interesting player, and we saw this in the Bernabeu, but he is not sufficiently outstanding in the national team," Valdano said about Roma wizard Francesco.

Admittedly, there was a run of three British winners, although only one was English, in the sixties when Manchester United trio Denis Law (1964), Bobby Charlton (1966) and George Best (1968) scooped the Golden Ball prize, but Valdano's comments do seem rather unfair.

Liverpool star Owen is in sizzling form, at both club and international level, but it will be interesting to see which way the voting goes next month.