With five goals in his last three England internationals, Jermain Defoe thought he might have silenced talk of Michael Owen.

Yet still it remains. Before every squad announcement, with every goal. England’s fourth highest goalscorer captures attention.

In an ideal world, Defoe would just brush it off. But it hurts. And it bothers him.

“It does, yes, a little bit,” he said.

“It’s like if my name gets mentioned Michael Owen’s has got to get mentioned as well. That is sometimes frustrating.

“Michael Owen is a great player but it is not that if I’m in the squad he’s not, or that if he is in the squad, I’m not.

“It would be nice to get away from it.”

It is easy to see why Defoe has become so frustrated.

The 25-year-old has not only been in outstanding form for Tottenham, he also scored both England goals in Amsterdam last month when Fabio Capello’s side roared back to almost win a game that looked beyond them at half-time.

And, nagging away at the back of his mind must be fear. In 2006, Defoe was called up to the England squad as cover for Wayne Rooney, who was trying to recover from a broken metatarsal.

He spent 10 days with Sven-Goran Eriksson’s squad, only to be made to pack his bags and head home when Rooney declared his fitness.

“I get reminded by everyone,” he said. “I will never forget it. It seems like yesterday. It is so clear in my mind.

“It was really hard because I actually travelled with the squad to Germany, then I had to go home.

“I suppose it made me stronger but I want to make sure I play this time round.”

If Defoe keeps going at the present rate he has no need to worry.

The former West Ham star has already found the net on four occasions for Spurs and with Emile Heskey struggling to gain a regular place at Aston Villa, could even gain a starting spot for Saturday’s friendly Slovenia at Wembley.

It certainly would be a rarity for Defoe, who has not scored any of his 10 international goals when Wayne Rooney has been on the pitch.

Those statistics seem to back up the theory that Defoe and Rooney cannot play together.

Given Rooney is one of the major components in Fabio Capello’s World Cup planning, it is a theory Defoe is anxious to rebuff.

“I have played with Wayne a few times now,” he said. “He is a great player who likes to get a lot of touches on the ball.

“In that sense he is similar to Robbie Keane and my partnership with him is great. I don’t mind staying behind a main striker, that’s for sure.”

Defoe might have been joined in the England squad by Ledley King this afternoon given Capello has had to call up cover for John Terry and Wes Brown, who are both suffering from minor knocks.

When King was released barely a day after being called up for the matches against Slovenia and the Ukraine last March, Capello did say he was not completely ruling the 28-year-old out of his plans.

Yet King’s long-standing knee injury, which prevents him from being able to train properly, does seem to have counted against him given Bolton’s Gary Cahill has been called up instead, just as he was for the trip to Kazakhstan in June.

There can be no other explanation for, as Defoe points out, his Spurs captain is still one of the most accomplished defenders around.

“You want your best players in a major tournament and Ledley is certainly one of those,” said Defoe.

“He still has the desire to play for England. If he got a call I know he would be delighted.

“When he is out on the pitch, his presence alone makes a huge difference.”

It is difficult to imagine a perfectionist like Capello placing his faith in King when the defender could not practise any set pieces or defensive drills as he continues his solo work in the gym and swimming pool.

“I don’t know how he does it,” said Defoe.

“Everyone at Spurs understands Ledley cannot train because his knees will swell up. Harry Redknapp is used to it now and can understand how he uses the physios every day.

“Ledley is a quiet lad but he loves his football and sometimes you look at him and know he is so frustrated.

“He wants to train but he just can’t do it.

“It must make him look forward to the game on a weekend even more though, because to perform the way he does is unbelievable.”

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher hopes Michael Owen his finds life at Manchester United tough going.

Carragher predicted United’s latest signing could prove a masterstroke for Sir Alex Ferguson, but is crossing his fingers the England striker struggles for goals in the Premier League title race.

“Signing Michael Owen was a clever piece of business by United and he has started really well in pre-season,” Carragher told the Sunday Mirror.

“In a way I’m pleased he’s got a big move to a big club because he came in for a lot of criticism at Newcastle.

“Why? What did he do wrong up there?

“For me, Michael Owen is still a great player and great role model and I have this feeling he’ll be good for United.

“But he plays for our biggest rivals now so he’ll know I won’t want him to carry on scoring once the season starts.”

He added: “He’s scored a lot of goals in the first few games for United and I hope he scores a few more pre-season because I want him to do well.

“But as soon as the season starts I hope he has a drought.”

Despite his respect for Owen’s talents, Carragher believes Liverpool’s forward pairing of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard could not be bettered.

“No other team in England has a partnership like Gerrard and Torres. There is no better partnership in the world at the moment.

“It’s strange to be talking about Stevie as a striker, but that’s what he has become and, for me, in that position behind the main forward there is no one better.

“When he’s playing alongside Torres they have the ability to tear defences wide open in a split second.”

Owen Hargreaves is to see a knee surgeon in a bid to cure the tendinitis problem that threatens to wreck his career.

The Manchester United midfielder has not been fully fit since he joined the Old Trafford outfit from Bayern Munich last summer.

Although the 27-year-old was able to play in last season’s Champions League final triumph over Chelsea, the pain he experienced when he returned to training this summer was as bad as ever.

United have tried to be patient, giving Hargreaves a course of injections they felt would allow him to play pain-free for the remainder of the season.

But it is now clear the move has not worked, leaving them little alternative than to send the 27-year-old to Colorado for a meeting with famed surgeon Dr Richard Steadman - who names Ruud van Nistelrooy and Michael Owen among his high-profile clients - after consultations in Sweden and London appear to have drawn a blank.

“We have been trying to manage the situation but that has not given us an answer,” United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said.

“In the past 10 days we have sent him to a specialist in Sweden and one in London. There has been no real answer there so now he is in Colorado to see Dr Steadman.

“We are trying to get to the root of it. We have been frustrated and patient but we really need to speed that up now.

“That is why we have sent him to the best available people to try and get a general opinion about where we go from here.”

United will wait for Dr Steadman to deliver his verdict before deciding the next course of action for Hargreaves.

No-one is mentioning retirement but there must be a nagging fear that the Calgary-born star will never be rid of a problem he first became aware of prior to his £18million move to United.

“Of course it is difficult when you are out for such a long time through injury,” said Ferguson.

“It is frustrating for the lad and we want to try and help him.

“With tendinitis at the front of the knee, when he gets involved in football-related training, the pain really surfaces.”

It is no surprise United and Hargreaves are placing their faith in Steadman, even though most of his football-related work has centred around cruciate ligament injuries.

“He started his career working with skiers,” said Ferguson.

“Because he has dealt with so many knee injuries, he has obviously acquired a great knowledge.

“He is not associated with this type of injury but the boy has gone on for too long just hoping injections will do the trick.”