- May 15, 2018
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There were different reasons for each of the players you mention being 'finished before they were 30'.
Owen had serious hamstring injuries and lost his pace. But he actually joined Man U in the year he turned 30 and was there until he was 33, so not really finished, just a totally different player as he had no pace and was effectively a goal poacher super sub (17 goals in 52 games across 3 years).
Torres had serious knee injury that also took his pace which was his prime asset.
Rooney I think of as being like a boxer whose weight balloons between fights, eventually the booze, cigarettes and junk food caught up with him. He never relied purely on pace, but he was at Man U for 18 - 31 years old and won everything.
With Rooney and Owen they played a lot of PL games as teenagers - Rooney 109 and Owen 79. Torres played a similar number of times as a teenager for Atletico Madrid (debut at 17, captain at 19). Kane did not start a PL game for us until his 21st year.
Kane does not drink or smoke, has a healthy lifestyle 365 days of the year and does not rely on pace. Like Sheringham he can play until he is in his mid-thirties IMO.
Also I think today's players are doing more science-based fitness training and nutrition. Hence the number of mid-30's athletes in a variety of sport still competing. Not to mention Harry Kane's favorite player, Tom Brady, still playing at age 43.