Owen To Leave?

[Dinho lad]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/article1759978.ece

 

Price is right for Premiership big guns to give Owen the stage he deserves

 

Manchester United have scored by far the most goals in the Barclays Premiership this season but could still do with a reliable poacher. Only Dirk Kuyt, of Liverpool’s quartet of forwards, can be sure of being at Anfield in August. And then there are the misfiring Andriy Shevchenko and Salomon Kalou at Stamford Bridge.

 

Replenishing their attacking resources will be at the forefront of the minds of the leading managers and one name will surely figure alongside Fernando Torres, David Villa and Jermain Defoe as the top clubs balance needs with budgets. At 27, Michael Owen is by far and away his country’s leading scorer and, because of unusual circumstances, is available for less than £10 million.

 

Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benítez could spend a long time scouring the transfer market before they will find a striker with a career ratio of 0.51 goals per game for that sort of money. And, as a pained Steve McClaren will tell you after England’s struggles in front of goal, a big-match temperament is priceless.

 

Having been ruled out for most of this season with a serious knee injury, Owen insists that he is back stronger than ever and those close to him can detect a renewed appetite for football. Removing him from action for ten months has relit his competitive fires, although his delight at returning has quickly been tested by two defeats for Newcastle United.

 

There is an argument that Owen has to stay at Newcastle and drag them up the league to repay a debt that comes from having played only 13 times in two injury-ravaged seasons. It is an argument that might hold water if Tottenham Hotspur or Sunderland were bidding, but could Owen seriously be expected to turn down United or Liverpool and the chance to compete for the title and to play in the Champions League?

 

He has spoken many times about the guilt that he feels towards the club who rescued him from an unhappy year at Real Madrid, but when they outbid Liverpool by £5 million two years ago, Newcastle knew that they were batting far above their station. It is why they had to put release clauses in his contract and to make him the highest-paid Englishman in the Premiership on more than £110,000 a week.

 

They did so knowing that, for the clauses not to be triggered, they would have to be competing at the top end of the table and to have become a ride worth staying on. Having just removed the second manager in Owen’s time with the departure of Glenn Roeder, they have hardly kept up their side of the deal. Newcastle have suffered terrible luck with Owen’s injury, among others, but the club remain a byword for instability and chronic underachievement.

 

It is a situation ripe for predators, particularly if the encouraging signs of Owen’s first two comeback matches – the robust challenges, the clever runs, even the frustration at the missed chances – are repeated away to Watford on Sunday and in England’s matches against Albania, Brazil and Estonia, in which he will hope to score his first goal since June last year.

 

If the top clubs decide to pursue other targets, the new manager at St James’ Park (ie, Sam Allardyce) will be lucky beyond his dreams when he inherits a forward with 36 goals in 80 games for England and whose worth has only been enhanced in his long absence. But the new manager should know that it is beyond his control and beyond Newcastle’s. It is down now to Ferguson and Benítez.

 

 

 

 

[Greg]

cunt

[Dinho lad]

I remember few years the press were also trying to influence things regarding Dyer's future when he was being linked with Leeds and Man U.

 

Shame it didn't work lyke.

[Nate]

Letting go the only world class player in our squad for less than we paid for him will be good business anyway, according to some.

[Dinho lad]

Letting go the only world class player in our squad for less than we paid for him will be good business anyway, according to some.

 

It's not the first time they said that his release clause is less than 10m.

 

I'm kinda worried.

[Legacy]

Letting go the only world class player in our squad for less than we paid for him will be good business anyway, according to some.

 

It's not the first time they said that his release clause is less than 10m.

 

I'm kinda worried.

 

Can we really be that stupid? Infact don't answer that.

[STM]

No IT IS down to newcastle. We do not have to accept anything. If they came in with 20m you'd be talking but they won't therfore he is going nowhere. Why on gods earth would we have a release clause of 10m, the same price liverpool bid?

 

Never heard such a load of bollocks in my life.

[Dragon55544]

Letting go the only world class player in our squad for less than we paid for him will be good business anyway, according to some.

 

It's not the first time they said that his release clause is less than 10m.

 

I'm kinda worried.

 

Dont be none of the top sides will be after him, Owen aint really much of a team player if you look at the likes of Drogba or Henry they are involved in the build up, They create goals for others aswell as banging in a lot of goals with Owen he'll score a lot but thats it really. The top teams seem to prefer a player who is more than just scoring goals if you know what i mean.

 

Owen has a bad track record for injuries and i very much doubt he'd be on £100k a week else where. I think it was clear no-one wanted him when he ended up here tbh

[Dokko]

If true it would probably spell the end of FS as Chairman, as i would kill him for putting such a clause in Owen's contract, Owen himself would probably get his legs broken for agreeing, so i cannot see this happening at all tbh. 

[Martin Lol]

Anyone know how long does he have left on his contract? 

[Leazes1986]

Typical bullshit.

[Guest graemeh72]

We will get a year from Owen irrespective of who the manager is.

 

Owen owes Freddie (yes FFS) and the fans a minimum of 1 full year in B&W.

 

Beyond that I think he'll be off - unless we qualify for CL (yeah right)

[Nate]

Anyone know how long does he have left on his contract? 

 

Two years.

[Parky]

This story does the rounds at the end of every season. There is no such clause in his contract nor any kind of buyout value. However I beleive there probably is some kind of gentlemans agreement regarding qualifying for Europe.

[Ally]

This story does the rounds at the end of every season. There is no such clause in his contract nor any kind of buyout value. However I beleive there probably is some kind of gentlemans agreement regarding qualifying for Europe.

 

Aye thats my reckoning too. He'll stay for next season then be off in the Summer 2008. Unless we miraculously have a class season next year and finish 5th or something.

[Robster]

While this kind of jounralilsm fucks us all off, lets be realistic about this.... Englands Number 1 Striker is stuck at a club that is a complete mess and in utter turmoil.

Would we really be surprised if he wasnt open to offers and vulnerable to bids from a bigger club.

[Guest sharath]

£9m escape clause sends Owen to top of Fergie's shopping list?

By Sam Wallace

09 May 2007

 

The Newcastle United striker Michael Owen will be the first target for Sir Alex Ferguson this summer with the new Premiership champions eager to take advantage of a clause in the player's contract that will make him one of the summer's best bargains. Owen should be available to leave St James' Park for around £9m.

 

Should a deal be struck, there is understood to be no major objections from the man himself about joining the oldest rivals of his first club Liverpool who passed up the chance to re-sign him in 2005 when he left Real Madrid. The 27-year-old found his old club outbid then by Newcastle but the clause in his contract means that he will be able to leave the north-east for much less than the £17m paid for him two years ago.

 

Manchester United have explored the possibility of signing Dimitar Berbatov but, having agreed a deal of up to £18.6m for Michael Carrick last year, have been told that on this occasion Tottenham Hotspur will attempt to price the Bulgarian international out the market. Owen fits the bill for Old Trafford in more than one way, he brings the guarantee of goals and he comes cheaper than usual for a former European footballer of the year.

 

The dispute between the Football Association and Newcastle over who pays Owen's wages following his World Cup injury has all but disclosed that the player is on £110,000-a-week which would put him among the top earners at Old Trafford. As usual, any reports of Owen leaving Newcastle where injury has prevented him playing more than 13 games in two years, are likely to be met with a firm riposte from St James Park but there is no question that Manchester United are interested.

 

The Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd is yet to appoint a new manager since Glenn Roeder's departure and Owen's future is likely to play a significant role in that deal. However, regardless of the bad luck Newcastle may have had with Owen's metatarsal injury last year, and this season's cruciate, the original release clause was there for just this kind of move. It would not play well with the Newcastle public, but they might wish to question why such an agreement was brokered in the first place.

 

Ferguson has lacked a more traditional goalscoring poacher since the departure of Ruud van Nistelrooy last summer and, with the injuries to Louis Saha, there has not been a settled strike partner for

 

Wayne Rooney. Owen would also suit the high-tempo, pressing game that United have switched to over the last season in the absence of the Dutchman.

 

"Speed is important to us," Ferguson said. "The way we play we need that in the team. At the moment we are looking whether we can get more speed."

 

With deals also likely for Owen Hargreaves and Gareth Bale, Ferguson will certainly test the finances of the club under the Glazer ownership this summer.

 

In the meantime, he is expected to pick a strong United side to play at Stamford Bridge tonight as his champions attempt to be the first team to inflict Chelsea's first home Premiership defeat since Jose Mourinho took over. The Chelsea manager is expected to rest Didier Drogba.

 

United's Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo has recorded an appeal for the return of the missing English girl Madeleine McCann who was abducted while on a family holiday in the Algarve on Thursday.

 

Ronaldo filmed the appeal in English and Portuguese before travelling with the United squad to London for tonight's game at Stamford Bridge.

 

The appeal was made at the request of the British foreign office staff in Portugal who thought that his huge profile in his home country would draw attention to the hunt for the missing three-year-old.

 

It seems that owen does have a get out clause? But £9m? Your fat freddy shepherd seems an idiot more than ridsale in doing transfer deals.

[Guest DarkStormCrow]

Reading about him escaping on several news sites hope it is not true.

[biggs]

I remember few years the press were also trying to influence things regarding Dyer's future when he was being linked with Leeds and Man U.

 

Shame it didn't work lyke.

wish it had in hindsight

[Paully]

I remember few years the press were also trying to influence things regarding Dyer's future when he was being linked with Leeds and Man U.

 

Shame it didn't work lyke.

 

 

Aye, 25 bastard million an arl.

[GM]

You know what? When you hear something once or twice, you can shrug it off as just another stupid rumour...but when you hear it repeatedly, you start to have your doubts....and when you add the words "Freddie" and "Shepherd" into the equation, then eventually you realise that maybe this is more than just an annoying rumour that won't go away...

 

Owen owes us nothing though - if I was him, I'd be wanting away by now too.

[Menace]

Sell Owen for £12M and Dyer for £6M and I couldn't give a fuck if he leaves or not.

[Martin Lol]

If Newcastle waited another season so there would only be 1 year remaining, wouldn't Owen be entitled to pay up his contract to Newcastle and be free to go?  One year's wages would be say £5.5m, which wouldn't be much of a return on the investment bearing in mind how few matches he has played for you.

[James]

Last night, I told my Grandad on the phone:

 

"expect every single paper to start linking Owen with a move away every single day until September 1st, as the press hat the idea of Owen playing for us. He'll be here next season."

 

I stand by my comments.

[Guest smoggeordie]

If Newcastle waited another season so there would only be 1 year remaining, wouldn't Owen be entitled to pay up his contract to Newcastle and be free to go?  One year's wages would be say £5.5m, which wouldn't be much of a return on the investment bearing in mind how few matches he has played for you.

 

Only if he's moving abroad IIRC.

 

TBH This was nailed on to happen from the day we signed him. All that matters now is if Owen puts loyalty before success, which unfortunately, he doesn't. It'd be lovely to have an "i'm staying at Newcastle" statement from him.