Michael Owen struggling with a jigsaw puzzle

Owen posted the picture on his Twitter account early on Thursday, saying he was about to 'embark on the biggest challenge of his life'.

But a short time later the 31-year-old appeared to be going to pieces over the magnitude of what was in front of him and appealed to his followers to give some tips on how to piece it all together.

Almost two hours after he'd emptied the contents over his kitchen table Owen then announced that he'd barely been able to connect four pieces and find the edges, much to amusement of his 600,000 followers.

He consequently gave up on the idea, instead tuning in to the radio to hear his horse Electric Qatar race at York.