Owen's home win

HE already has a pounds 1.6million country mansion and a pounds 2million hideaway in the sun - now England striker Michael Owen is splashing out on a pounds 1.4million city penthouse.

As one of football's top earners, the pounds 80,000-a-week Liverpool star is investing his fortune in a taste of the high life.

Perched at the top of a 30-storey tower development near the Liverpool waterfront, Owen's luxury pad will be ready next year. All 135 apartments in the upmarket block have already been snapped up.

From his living room he will command breathtaking views over the River Mersey and the Welsh mountains 40 miles away.

The 23-year-old soccer star childhood sweetheart Louise Bonsall is expecting their first baby any time now.

The couple already enjoy a millionaire lifestyle at their mansion in Northop, North Wales. And only last year Owen bought a villa in the Portuguese Algarve which backs on to one of the world's top golf courses.

Three years earlier he paid pounds 750,000 to buy homes for his parents as well as his two brothers and two sisters in Hawarden, North Wales. Owen can afford such generosity. Apart from his wages, he has deals worth pounds 3.5million with sponsors including Umbro, Walkers Crisps and Pepsi. Earlier this year he faced criticism after the Sunday Mirror revealed he was a regular gambler who had staked an astonishing pounds 2.2million in three years.

Yesterday a source close to the soccer star said: "Michael was knocked out when he saw the artist's impression of the penthouse. He made his mind up there and then he wanted it. The views from the top are stunning."

The penthouse was his second snap decision in the property market. He fell in love with his Portuguese villa - once owned by Brazilian Formula One ace Ayrton Senna - from the moment he first saw it.

It overlooks the Quinta Do Lago golf course, regularly used in the PGA championship. One source in Quinta Do Lago - also home to Ronan Keating and Cliff Richard - said: "It's the perfect place for a star to relax with a game of golf away from the eyes of the world."

Meanwhile, the house Owen grew up in is currently on the market for pounds 190,000.

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