David de Gea injured himself while unsuccessfully trying to save James Ward-Prowse’s free-kick in the first half of Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Southampton on Sunday.
Dean Henderson replaced the Spaniard during half time, and the England goalkeeper looked solid between the sticks as Manchester United mounted their comeback win after the break.
Debates have been raging over De Gea’s place in the team since last season and Solskjaer’s decision to not loan out Henderson in the summer added fuel to the fire.
So far, the Manchester United manager has decided against changing his first-choice goalkeeper and Owen conceded that the Norwegian might not be keen to drop De Gea.
But the former striker feels if he ever wanted to change the goalkeepers, this is the time as the Spaniard could miss a couple of games and it would allow him an excuse to draft Henderson into the line-up.
Owen said on Premier League TV: “If you are thinking about changing the goalkeeper, this is the time.
“I don’t think Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants confrontation, I don’t think he wants to drop him.
“But in this situation all of a sudden, ‘hey, you went off injured and he has done nothing wrong’.
“It is the perfect opportunity.
“If he had any of those thoughts over the last few months when mistakes were made, now is your time.”
Henderson has remained patient this season but now could be his opportunity to prove his credentials to become the Manchester United number one.
