The 27-year-old reveals he knew he would make a swift return just weeks into his Spanish career.

In his column in The Times, Owen said: “I moved out there for all the right reasons. I knew that if I turned down the opportunity I might regret it all my life. Everyone I spoke to agreed.

“In some ways I had to get it out of my system, a bit like owning a boy-racer car and yet, looking back, I knew that after about two months that I was doing one year and one year only. I knew quickly that I wasn’t going to take to it.”

While the former Liverpool forward claims lifestyle was the major issue he also reveals he did not feel he had the full backing of the three managers he worked under at the Bernabeu – Jose Antonio Camacho, Mariano Garcia Remon and Vanderlei Luxemburgo.

“You need the trust of your manager but I was scoring goals and still coming off. It sickens you and you think: ’I want to go home’.

“I am glad for the experience even if the main thing I learned was that living abroad is not for me.”