Michael Owen admitted yesterday he may be forced to consider his future at Real Madrid following his summer move from Liverpool. The England striker traded Anfield for the Bernabeu in a £8 million deal in August, but has started just one match for the Spaniards and languishes down the pecking order behind Raul, Ronaldo, Fernando Morientes and even Guti.

And yesterday the 24-year-old said: "I don't have a crystal ball so I don't know at what point I should start being worried, but I would be worried if this continued right the way through the season. If that happened then obviously I'd have to ask questions about myself.

"At Liverpool I was first choice every week. What Raul is to the Real Madrid supporters I was in a way to the Liverpool supporters. I was an important player. The big difference is that I'm not playing as much in Madrid."

Owen's challenge for a place in the team has been made harder by the possibility of losing sharpness, especially at a club without a reserve team.

"It can be difficult to not play and then be called upon for one game or 10 minutes or so," he said. "Much as you do probably train harder when you are not playing there's nothing like match fitness or playing games."

Following the departure of the coach Jose Antonio Camacho, under whom Owen played 70 minutes of the match against Mallorca and started the match with Espanyol, Owen has found his chances even more limited.

New manager Mariano Garcia Remon has preferred Morientes and even converted midfielder Guti as an alternative to his first-choice pairing Ronaldo and Raul. Owen has had just 10 minutes during his three games in charge.

"It's only the start of the season and I never expected to walk straight into the side so I was happy with the way things went for the first five or six games," he added. "But I haven't played much in the last two or three. I don't want to carry on not playing.

"I've played a couple of games, played a few matches for England and done a hard pre-season so I'm fit at the moment. But if it continued then it might be a bit more difficult and I might have more problems. I hope we don't have to cross that bridge."

With the return to fitness of Wayne Rooney and the impressive performance from Jermain Defoe during England's victory in Poland last month, there are even suggestions that Owen may lose his place in the national team, a potential problem not helped by sitting on the bench at Madrid.

But yesterday he shrugged off suggestions his status as a first-choice England striker was in danger. "I've not played as much as I would have liked to in the last few weeks but I'm sure when I come to England it will be okay. Sometimes in life in you have to be patient," he said.

Owen insisted he was not concerned about the untouchable status of squad members like Raul and Ronaldo, saying: "If I play well, better than other people, then I'm sure I'll get a chance if I wait my turn. It is tough but I have been through tougher times than this."

But Owen has already discovered it is not always as simple as playing well and taking chances, especially at Madrid. He admitted: "[The situation] isn't because I'm playing badly, so I'm holding my head up high. I firmly believe that it's only a matter of time before I get a chance and then it's in my own hands: I'm not looking for favours from anyone.

"I'm the kind of person who goes to sleep thinking about these things and every time I've played I've been reasonably happy with my performances - I've never had a really bad game. Unfortunately, I haven't had many chances lately, but that's football. I'm sure I'll get them and if I play well I've staked a bit of a case again. I'm not playing as much as I would like but there's still a long way to go."