'I pretended to be Owen on the street - but you can't compare us'

Who was better at the age of 17 - Michael Owen or Wayne Rooney?

It's a debate that's been sweeping social media during the past week after Owen backed himself against his former England team-mate.

Now Rooney has had his say - and he's been diplomatic.

"Michael and I are very different players," he said on the latest episode of The Wayne Rooney Show, which you can now listen to on BBC Sounds.

"I used to go out on the street and pretend to be Michael Owen - even though he played for Liverpool."

The debate began when former Liverpool and England striker Owen said on a recent Rio Ferdinand podcast: "I saw Wazza got asked who was the best out of us at the age of 17 or 18. And I did smile."

After being asked how he compared to other players at the same age, Owen said: "The only person you could possibly compare me to in our country is Wayne Rooney."

On Friday, BBC Match of the Day's X account asked - who was better aged 17, Michael Owen or Wayne Rooney?

And Owen replied claiming that he was.

Rooney, who is six years younger than Owen, said: "I think his comments are fair. Of course, he's going to back himself. I'd back myself.

"But, I'd never judge myself against Michael Owen because he's someone I actually looked up to and had the pleasure of playing alongside [for England and Manchester United]."

• Watch the Wayne Rooney Show on BBC Sport YouTube, and iPlayer. Listen on BBC Sounds.

How their Premier League goalscoring compares by age

How their careers went

Rooney is second on the England team's all-time leading scorer list; Owen is sixth.

But injuries curtailed Owen's career and the last of his 40 England goals came at the age of 27.

He won the Ballon d'Or at 22 while at Liverpool and also went on to play for Real Madrid, Newcastle, Manchester United - with Rooney - and Stoke.

Owen scored 222 goals in 482 club games before retiring aged 32.

Rooney managed a longer, more successful career - scoring 313 club goals in 763 games for Everton, United, DC United and Derby.

He is United's all-time top scorer with 253 goals and was England's top scorer on 53 before Harry Kane passed him.

Rooney won the Champions League, which Owen didn't, and five Premier League titles - with Owen winning only one, alongside Rooney in 2010-11.

But the debate here is about them as teenagers, so let us have a look.

'In our opening seven seasons Wazza didn't outscore me once'

Owen laid out the case for himself when replying to the MOTD post.

"At 17 I scored 18 PL goals (winning the Golden Boot), Wazza scored 6. At 18 I again scored 18 goals (again winning the Golden Boot and coming 4th in The Ballon d'Or), Wazza scored 9," he wrote.

Owen's stats include the age he was at the start of a season. He turned 18 midway through that first 18-goal season.

He continued: "In our opening 7 seasons, Wazza didn't outscore me once (117 goals v 80). In which time I became the 2nd youngest Ballon d'Or winner ever.

"Injuries hindered me from then on while he sustained his level. Therefore, he'll go down as a better player than me. But, at 17, please……"

Owen, who has devastating pace before his injuries, won two Premier League Golden Boots for Liverpool before turning 20 - while Rooney never won one.

Also at 18 he scored twice for England at the 1998 World Cup, including a famous solo effort against Argentina.

He was 22 when he won the Ballon d'Or in 2021.

'We're two completely different footballers'

Rooney burst on to the scene at Everton with a famous long-range winner against Arsenal in October 2002 when he was aged 16 - which made him the youngest Premier League goalscorer at the time.

He scored nine goals for England before his 18th birthday - including four at Euro 2004.

Rooney was the youngest goalscorer in England history and the youngest European Championship scorer ever at the time (although that record only lasted days).

On his BBC podcast, he would not say who was better aged 17.

"I completely understand what he's saying," said Rooney.

"But we're two completely different footballers - different styles, different techniques. Michael Owen, for a three or four-year period, was probably the best centre forward in the world.

"I think people do forget actually how good he was.

"It's hard to argue against anyone coming up against Michael Owen then. Unfortunately, he did get his injuries and he probably couldn't adapt his game maybe as well as I could in playing from the side or going back into midfield."

'It was an honour for me to play with him'

Rooney and Owen played 52 times together - 25 for England and 27 for United, who Owen joined when he was 29 and past his peak.

"It was an honour for me to play with him. I really did look up to him when I was young and we had very similar pathways in terms of we both come into the England squad quite young and then we played together," Rooney said.

"We probably didn't get the best out of each other when we did play alongside each other.

"And, actually, he assisted me, I think, more than I did him, which you'd probably think it should be the other way around."

Rooney also thinks Owen's reputation as being boring is unmerited.

"He is one of the funniest people you'll meet," he said. "I hope he just gets that out because everyone who played with him, we know what a good lad he is, and sometimes that doesn't always come across."