Michael Owen has conceded the arrival of El Hadji Diouf at Liverpool disrupted his flourishing partnership in attack alongside Emile Heskey.
Diouf was signed by the Reds on the back of the 2002 World Cup, in which he helped Senegal reach the quarter-final of the tournament and was named African Player of the Year the same year. The striker failed to live up to expectations at Anfield, however, scoring just six times in 80 appearances for the club before exiting in 2005.
Heskey and Owen had scored a combined 42 goals the season prior to Diouf's debut campaign in England and had developed a strong understanding within the final third, which soon came under threat as competition for places increased.
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As it happened, all three players would end up leaving the club at the end of the following season (2003/04) on the back of a fourth-placed Premier League finish as Owen joined Real Madrid, Heskey moved to Birmingham City and Diouf agreed a long move to Bolton which later became permanent.
Reflecting on whether Diouf being recruited disrupted the Liverpool attack, Owen told the ECHO: "There's a saying in life that opposites attract and me and Emile were literally as opposite as you could get when you look at our strength, our size and the way we played. I was pretty much a ruthless sort of goalscorer that just had eyes on scoring goals, whereas Emile was far more of a team player far happier letting other people score rather than scoring himself. He never used to get in any of my spaces that I wanted to run into, but vice versa, I never used to do the things that he was good at either, so we worked really well.
"I think anybody that you ask, if it was Robbie Fowler or any centre-forward that is a real goal-getter, that they like to play alongside that player that might drop off or be that sort of unselfish player. I think that combination works. Whenever you throw an extra person into the mix, then that obviously can disrupt things. Every club has got to have a squad that's good enough, if there's injuries or a lack of form or just to rotate.
"So when Diouf came, we were all pretty excited. We were on the back of winning loads of trophies one season and then coming second in the league as well. We thought at the time we were on the threshold of winning something, we were just looking for those little final pieces of the jigsaw and both Senegalese lads, El Hadjj Diouf and Salif Diao, came at the same time.
"We saw him play in the World Cup and thought he was a good player. But, I think over time he ended up playing in wider roles for Liverpool. Obviously he had his chances up front as well but, in general, it probably wasn't a partnership that myself and Diouf played together much. The same with Heskey, I would have thought.
"He was a very talented lad, strong, and could withstand challenges. He was certainly a brave player and had a great touch. He had a lot about him, but on the whole, we were looking for somebody to get us over the line to go win the league and sadly that season, we couldn't quite do it."
It is no secret not everyone within the Liverpool team saw eye-to-eye with the former Senegal international, notably Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. The local icons were both critical of Diouf in their respective autobiographies, with Carragher claiming the forward's attitude left him 'disgusted' while Gerrard described the now 41-year-old as worst player he ever played alongside at Anfield.
Offering his view on what it was like to share the dressing room with a player who clearly divided opinion, Owen said: "El-Hadjj was quite a lively character. He was popular amongst the lads when he was in the dressing room, I found. He wasn't the shy type that came in - straight away he was quite vocal and got on with everybody quite well.
"I think there's probably an element of disappointment from the likes of Carra, as you say, myself and all the lads at the time that we were building something, winning trophies, trying to go that one step further to win the league. And obviously, whoever was the next signing, that pressure was going to be put on them to hopefully be that next piece of the jigsaw to get us over the line.
"So it was probably unfortunate timing as well for the players that came in at that point because we had had success and we were improving quite rapidly. But he was a confident lad, and he's obviously a huge name in his native Senegal. I had no problem with his character. I actually got on with him. But I can understand people saying what they said, but he’s certainly not got a bad bone in him. He was a nice guy."
*Michael Owen was speaking to the ECHO via aceodds.com.*
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