Stoke City signing Michael Owen admits he stayed at Manchester United one year too long.

Owen accepts he might have been better off departing Old Trafford a year earlier.

"I was on the bench a lot of the time, but then when the manager says 'you have a big role to play and we want you to stay for another year', it was great to hear that from someone like Sir Alex Ferguson," Owen said.

"In hindsight, probably with that extra year, it might have been better if I had moved in many ways."