Owen wanted to leave the "comfort zone" of Liverpool

At 1830 BST on Sunday Real Madrid begin their campaign to wrestle the La Liga title from Valencia with an away game at Real Mallorca.

The Real bench should make interesting viewing as it is likely to contain at least two world-class strikers.

While Imelda Marcos loved shoes, Real chief Florentino Perez adores strikers.

Most clubs are happy to have two world-class forwards but Real now have four on their books, with Raul, Fernando Morientes and Ronaldo also at the club.

Owen is well aware of the challenge he faces to get in the Real team.

"I'm certainly going to have to stretch myself," he told the Times earlier this week.

"I am pleased and proud of myself for making that step out of the comfort zone and going for something that is a bit scary, a bit nerve-racking.

"Now I have to prove myself at Real and I know that, in Ronaldo, Raul and Fernando Morientes, they have three of the best strikers in the world.

"I am different from all of them, which can only be a good thing. I expect I'll have to sit on the bench once or twice, but so will everyone."

A few days after Owen's acquisition, Real returned to England, this time to Newcastle, and paid �13.4 for defender Jonathan Woodgate.

Feature: Woodgate at Real

It is extremely unusual for a European club to have three English players on their hands, David Beckham, of course, having arrived at Real a year ago.

When Woodgate returns to fitness he will partner Walter Samuel in Real's defence.

That partnership will allow Ivan Helguera to play as Real's defensive midfielder, a position the club have never really filled since Claude Makelele's move to Chelsea.

Whether Helguera can prove an effective holding player to protect the Real defence remains to be seen.

The suspicion also remains while their full-backs Michel Salgado and Roberto Carlos are superb going foward they are frail defensively.

Real's new manager Jose Antonio Camacho was desperate for a defensive midfielder - if not Patrick Vieira then the Brazilian Emerson who has now moved from Roma to Juventus.

But Real's inability to lure Vieira away from Arsenal and Perez's insatiable desire for attacking players saw the Madrid club turn to Owen.

Real Madrid apart, Spanish clubs remain reulctent to sign English players to La Liga.

That coyness is primarily to do with economics - English clubs generally pay much bigger wages.

Last year Barcelona paid Luis Garcia �13,000 a week.

No wonder Larsson is smiling - his new striker partner is Ronaldinho

His move to Liverpool will see his wages triple.

Earlier this summer Barcelona vice-president Sandro Rosell admitted English players were out of their financial wage bracket.

He told BBC Sport: "We will purchase between four and six players.

"There are some English-based players on our list but I don't think they will come because of their huge wages."

Real finished fourth last season in Li Liga, behind Deportivo la Coruna, Barcelona and champions Valencia.

Last season Barcelona began slowly, but inspired by Ronaldinho, who is rapidly emerging as the world's best player, the Catalan club mounted a late surge to claim to second place.

Over the summer Barca bolstered their squad dramatically spending �16m on Samuel Eto'o, �12m on Deco and �4.5m on Ludovic Giuly as well as bringing in Henrik Larsson on a free transfer.

With Real and Barca having invested so heavily, Valencia's new manager Claudio Ranieri will have a tough job defending the club's title.

The former Chelsea coach has already spent �18m since taking over from Rafael Benitez, recruiting Stefano Fiore and Bernado Corradi from Lazio and Marco di Vaio from Juventus.

Valencia begin their title defence on Monday with a home game against Villarreal, while Barcelona start their campaign with an away trip to Racing Santander.

And with competition sure to be fierce it should make for another fascinating season in Spain.