glory hunter
Michael Owen set to sign for Manchester United?
Michael Owen will sign for Manchester United on a free transfer today provided that he passes a stringent medical.
The move to Old Trafford would represent an astonishing turnaround in fortunes for the striker, who was relegated with Newcastle United only six weeks ago. On top of the prospect of winning medals with the Barclays Premier League champions, the chance to pair up with Wayne Rooney will give Owen hope that he can revive his England career.
Owen, 29, joined the ranks of the unemployed on Wednesday, when his contract at Newcastle expired, and his agents had been so concerned about a lack of interest that they sent a brochure to Premier League managers setting out his strengths.
Liverpool, his former club, were among those who showed no interest and only 48 hours ago Sam Allardyce said that a deal would be too risky for Blackburn Rovers because of Owen’s injury record.
But Sir Alex Ferguson has decided that with Owen a free agent, it is a gamble worth taking. The United manager is hopeful that his big-match temperament will yield a glut of goals, while Owen will be thrilled after four nightmare years at St James’ Park.
The deal will require Owen to accept a huge drop in salary from the £120,000 a week he was earning on Tyneside. Everton, who made an offer this week, had been willing to pay a basic salary of about £50,000 a week. The scale of the United deal is not yet clear in terms of length of contract or salary, but United are understood to have included incentives depending on games played, goals scored and trophies won.
First Owen will have to convince the doctors that he is fully fit. He has not suffered a bad injury since snapping his cruciate ligament at the 2006 World Cup finals, which ruled him out almost for an entire season, but there have been a number of niggles and he has lost his once extreme pace.
He made 28 league appearances for Newcastle last season, scoring eight goals - a decent haul for a team who had four managers on a wretched journey out of the top flight.
Ferguson’s interest in Owen is longstanding. He considered buying him when he came back from Real Madrid in 2005, but he already had Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy and was not willing to match Newcastle’s £16.5 million valuation. United were considering a £12 million bid the next summer before Owen suffered his knee injury.
United need attacking options. Cristiano Ronaldo has been sold to Real Madrid for £80 million, Carlos Tévez has departed, seemingly for Manchester City, and Ferguson lost out this week on Karim Benzema, who is bound for the Bernabéu from Lyons.
The intriguing question for United fans is whether Dimitar Berbatov, such a disappointment last season, would lose his place to a Rooney-Owen partnership. Capello, too, will watch with interest. Owen has played only once for the Italian, in a friendly against France in March last year, and Capello has been sparing in his praise.
But Owen will be a lot more optimistic about adding to his 40 goals and 89 caps if he is modelling a United shirt by tonight.
The Times
Michael James Owen
you wouldn't dare...
have fun hanging out with hargreaves on the injury table