Michael Owen: Jodie Taylor is a selfish out-and-out goalscorer like me and can fire England all the way at Euro 2017

In an exclusive interview with The Independent, the former England striker heaps praise on the 31-year-old and sees a great deal of his game in hers

Jodie Taylor celebrates after scoring her hat-trick against Scotland (Getty)

It was just after her side’s first game of this uplifting women’s Euro 2017 campaign and Jodie Taylor was revelling in becoming just the third English international history to hit a hat-trick at a major tournament.

She now stands alongside Gary Lineker and Geoff Hurst in the history books, and has subsequently drawn high praise from another of England’s great forwards.

Currently working as a pundit at the tournament in France, Michael Owen made a beeline for Taylor after her hat-trick in the 6-0 win over Scotland.

It wasn’t just because she is a similarly rare England striker that has illuminated a tournament in the way Owen did in 1998, or that he had even recognised a kindred “natural goalscorer” who is currently the Euro’s top scorer with five goals to her name.

It was that he really wanted to talk to someone so clearly on the same wavelength as him about one particular goal: the deft lob over goalkeeper Gemma Fay that completed Taylor’s hat-trick.

Owen’s career may have been slightly different to Taylor’s in that he was a teenage revelation whereas the Arsenal striker looks in the form of her career at 31 years of age, but he was fascinated by the thought process of someone who clearly took the same kind of decision he often did when one-on-one.

“Well, listen, us strikers, I think goalkeepers and centre-forwards are probably the most unique players,” Owen said in an interview to promote McDonald’s sponsorship of Euro 2017. “To be a goalscorer, you need to be unique. And I still can only have football conversations, the way I want to have football conversations as a centre-forward, with one or two people in this world. I just can’t explain what you think, and how you feel but she is an out-and-out hungry goal-getter.

Taylor has five goals to her name at this year's Euros (Getty)

“She’s like me in that, when I watch her, she takes part in the build-up but it’s ‘because I have to, I don’t really want to’, and you do your best but it’s just not natural. She’s just naturally alert and instinctive to scoring goals, and her choices in front of goal are just perfect.

“I spoke to her after the Scotland game, and I told her - but she agreed - that the goalkeeper made up her mind on the lob at the end, she could have gone around but the ball was already bouncing so it would have been hard to get it, so was just an easy decision to make - to me, and to her.

“As I say, I can have that conversation with her because it’s such an instinctive thing that only real goal-grabbers, selfish people like me - when you’re on the football pitch, I might add - and she is a natural, natural goalscorer. You could see it. Even if she doesn’t score a goal, you can see in her movement and what she does that she’s a natural scorer.”

Owen sees similarities between himself and Taylor (Getty)

Owen now feels that, combined with the quality and confidence running through the England team, Taylor’s goals can prove the difference as Mark Sampson’s players gear up for Thursday’s semi-final against hosts Holland.

“They came third in World Cup two years ago, and they beat Germany in the third-place play-off, which I think was a big monkey off their back in a way because obviously Germany in this competition have been amazing for six years, so I just think they’ve gained a load of confidence from that, then the qualification’s been great.

“And I just think they’re in a different place now and they do believe they’re one of the best teams, and when you’ve got that confidence, and when you’ve got a striker that’s banging in goals, it’s amazing where it takes you, and I genuinely think if they beat the host nation, they won’t be scared of anyone in the final.”

It’s now the only way for the finisher in Taylor to finish this campaign.

Michael Owen is helping McDonald’s celebrate 15 years of its Community Football Programme and its longstanding commitment to inclusivity. For more information on McDonald’s sponsorship of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017™ visit mcdonalds.co.uk/betterplay