Michael Owen is good enough to hold down a place in Real Madrid's starting line-up despite stiff opposition for places, his new club mate David Beckham said on Monday.
"It's always tough going into a team like Real Madrid and you know that you've got to work hard to get into it," England captain Beckham, now in his second season with the Spanish club, said.
"If you don't play well and perform you don't get in the team, especially with the manager we've got. He's a strong character," Beckham told reporters, referring to new coach Jose Camacho.
"But I think that Michael's good enough to get in our side. In fact, Michael could play in any league in the world with his pace," Beckham said as England prepare to play Ukraine in a friendly international in Newcastle on Wednesday.
England striker Owen, who joined Real from Liverpool last week, will have to compete with Brazil's Ronaldo and Spaniards Raul and Fernando Morientes for a place in the front line.
"He scores goals and gets in the right position so I don't think he'll have a problem when he starts playing in Spain," said Beckham of Owen, who has scored 23 goals in 60 England matches and 158 in 297 games for Liverpool.
"His signing was all about strengthening the squad and that's what we're doing."
Beckham said he was looking forward to his second season at the Bernabeu.
"I never felt I made a mistake moving and settling into Spain. I don't regret anything. Some things happened that were out of my control or could have changed but I love living in Spain and I'm settled there," he said.
"After Christmas my form dipped a bit with things being said about me which weren't true but I never came close to moving back to England.
"I think that last week was probably the best I've played for four or five months and I'm happy with that and looking forward to the new season."
Beckham helped Real beat Wisla Krakow 2-0 in Poland in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie last week.
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