Everton and Villa lead race to snap up Owen

By Sam Wallace

Wednesday, 1 July 2009

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Despite his rocky time at Newcastle, Michael Owen is still attracting attention from several Premier League clubs

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Michael Owen expects to have a choice of either Aston Villa or Everton when his Newcastle United contract runs out today. He is very unlikely to join a Premier League struggler, with the Owen camp confident that the two clubs that finished directly behind the big four last season will make an offer.

Owen, 29, has made it clear that his first choice is Everton but Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager, is also expected to offer Owen a deal that would be heavily incentivised. Under the terms of his Newcastle deal Owen is entitled to another four weeks of his £108,0000-a-week salary from Newcastle this month if he does not sign for another club on the same terms. That is an common agreement in place with most players should there be a period of unemployment when they come out of contract.

Newcastle fans will feel differently about their financially ravaged club having to shell out another £432,000 on Owen this month but they have no choice and will be obliged to do the same for the out of contract Mark Viduka who is on £65,000 a week. Even if Owen signs for Everton or Villa this month, Newcastle will be obliged to make up any shortfall in his contract until the start of next month.

Despite the cynicism towards Owen from many quarters, the striker is still in demand. So much so that offers from Stoke City and Hull are likely to be much further down the queue. The former England striker is an attractive proposition because he can be signed on a short-term deal – possibly even a one-year contract – with the promise of an extra year if he plays a certain number of games. Meanwhile, Newcastle have asked Colin Calderwood to come back to work with Chris Hughton during pre-season.

Comments

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Michael Owen

leahcim123 wrote:

Wednesday, 1 July 2009 at 08:49 am (UTC)

This is one vere greedy player ,who will not expects he is not the player was.

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Don't be fooled

geordie80 wrote:

Wednesday, 1 July 2009 at 10:41 am (UTC)

As a Newcastle supporter who saw every home game and most away games last season I can tell you Michael Owen is simply not good enough anymore for the Premier League. What made him great was his ability to be in the right position at the right time. He never was a great 'finisher' and often wasted more chances than he netted. He has not lost a yard of pace either, he has lost it all. Many big slow commanding centre halfs would beat him over 10 yards now. Add this to the fact that he simply has no desire to play and I ask you who would want him. Both Villa and Everton have been relatively successful having a good season last year. Why waste this on somebody who is more concerned with horse racing and flying his helicopter? Both teams in question did well because of team spirit last year and a belief in themselves. Why would you bring in somebody who believes they are a lot better than they are to potentially upset this. His goals have gone, his stats that people show are 10 years old and the guy cannot be bothered. Hopefully he will end up somewhere more suited to his skill level. No disrespect intended here but he is no better than Hull or Stoke and should he go to one of these unfortuante clubs then they should preprare for a relegation scrap and more than likely to fail, just as we did at Newcastle. Great players win trophies, a half decent player would have kept Newcastle up! He did not!

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No Thanks!

lordvilla wrote:

Wednesday, 1 July 2009 at 07:54 pm (UTC)

As I Villa fan who saw virtually every match last season, I wholeheartedly agree with Geordie80. Five years ago it would have been a good move but as it is now he's well past it and a waste of money. If he joins he'll play less than 20 matches and score about 6 goals. Which wouldn't be so bad if he made any other contribution around the field. But he 's just a poor goal hanger who does,'t play very often. No thanks!!

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