Dead man puts soccer ace Michael Owen back on his feet

Owen is expected to play next week for the first time since he collapsed with a terrible knee injury at the World Cup in June last year.

His leg was repaired using ligaments from the knee of a young American man who had died.

Until now, only his family and closest friends knew that donor tissue was used in the operation, performed by U.S. surgeon Dr Richard Steadman.

"The patient doesn't know who the donor is," said Dr Steadman, 69. "I just don't like to make that kind of connection." Owen tore his anterior cruciate ligament just two minutes into England's World Cup match against Sweden.

The ligament is one of four in the knee joint. It runs diagonally across the knee from the thigh bone to the tibia in the lower leg, and prevents the knee from rotating too far.

Dr Steadman said that the donor's ligament was removed from his knee together with parts of the bones to which it was attached.

The pieces of bone were then attached to Owen's own leg bones for the firmest possible connection.

Many patients are patched up with tissue pared from their own ligaments. But Dr Steadman said that by using a complete donor ligament, Owen would have the best chance of a full recovery.

Owen, 27, had to give his consent before donor tissue could be used in the operation, performed in September.

Dr Steadman has reconstructed the knees of many top sportsmen, including footballers Alan Shearer and Ruud van Nistelrooy and England cricket captain Michael Vaughan.

He believes the Newcastle United striker will be a better player than ever when he returns to full match-fitness.

"Players can come back to a better level but it is not because their reconstructed ligament is stronger than the old one," he said. "I think it is because when you recover from a serious injury it makes you a stronger person."

Owen is expected to take to the pitch for Newcastle in their Premiership match against Reading on Monday night.

If he does, his thoughts will doubtless be with the benefactor whose life was cut short - and whose identity he will never know.

The striker is England's fourth-highest scorer, with 36 goals from 80 internationals, and is best remembered for his wonder strike against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, when he was only 18.

With Dr Steadman's prediction of many more years of top-flight football to come, the odds on Owen overtaking Bobby Charlton's record of 49 goals may yet tumble.