Recently, Michael Owen stated in an interview that he considers Sami Hyypiä his "most underrated teammate," who deserves to be regarded as a Premier League legend but whose name is rarely mentioned.
During his glorious 17-year career, Owen played for giants such as Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester United. When asked who his "most underrated" teammate was, Owen told reporters: “Sami Hyypiä of Liverpool.”
“I think he was absolutely brilliant, yet when I hear people talk about all the great defenders in Premier League history, his name is never mentioned. He was extraordinary, an incredible player. Some details may go unnoticed, but he was really, really outstanding. When it comes to underrated players, he would be my choice.”
Coincidentally, another Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, who often partnered with Hyypiä at center-back, has expressed a similar view before. Carragher told the media in 2021: “After joining, he played for the club for ten years without ever getting injured. He was the key to turning Liverpool from a soft team into one with great mental and physical resilience. The success we achieved under Houllier and Benítez in the following decade was built on solid defense. That wasn’t a glamorous team that only knew how to attack and score goals in abundance, but one based on stability—and that foundation was laid from the moment he joined.”
Hyypiä was signed from Dutch side Willem II for £2.5 million, spent ten years at Anfield and made 464 appearances for the Reds. As a regular captain of the team, he helped Liverpool win the cup treble in 2001 and then played a key role in the iconic 2005 Champions League title run.
Liverpool offered Hyypiä a coaching position towards the end of his playing career. Although he rejected the offer to join Bayer Leverkusen, he also expressed interest in returning to Anfield as a coach in the future, showing his deep affection for the club. When Hyypiä left the Premier League, he had been twice named in the PFA Team of the Year and won the Finnish Footballer of the Year award ten times throughout his career.
