Liverpool, August 23:

Real Madrid striker Michael Owen turned down a move to Everton, the crosstown rival of his former club Liverpool. “We have been in contact with Michael and his advisers and unfortunately he doesn’t see Everton as a team he would choose at this present time,” Everton manager David Moyes said on Tuesday. Owen, who spent the first eight years of his career at Liverpool, is likely to leave Madrid after it hired Brazilian forwards Robinho and Julio Baptista. Several English teams, including Liverpool, have been linked with a move for the England striker.

Everton has struggled to attract top players, even though it finished fourth in last season’s Premier League to reach the qualifying rounds of the Champions League. The club plays at Villarreal on Wednesday needing to recover a 2-1 first-leg deficit if it’s to reach Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since 1970. That’s one reason players aren’t joining.