Owen had a successful season at the Bernabeu scoring 18 goals in 41 games, but when he decided to return to the Premier League (with his priority a return to Merseyside) Liverpool wouldn't match Newcastle's offer.
Michael Owen: “It was real.
"I spoke to the chief executive Rick Parry and I was in Liverpool with Rafa Benitez and we were pretty close to agreeing things.
"The main issue was Real Madrid and Liverpool settling on a deal and they couldn’t agree a fee – plus Newcastle were quite aggressive in their offer to Madrid.
"So Madrid felt that Liverpool weren’t matching their valuation of me and I thought it would be good to go to Newcastle.
“It was a World Cup year and I wanted to be playing, plus Madrid had bought two more strikers, so I went to St James’ Park and thought it was great.
"It’s a very similar place to Liverpool in a lot of ways – especially the people, who are football mad.
"I thought that, as much as it would have been great to go back to Liverpool, going to Newcastle would be just as enjoyable an experience.”