CUT-PRICE OWEN TO LEAVE - REPORTS
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Michael Owen could be on his way out of Newcastle after it emerged a £9million release clause will kick in at the end of the season. According to reports in Wednesday's newspapers, the England striker's contract states that he can leave the club for a cut-price transfer fee if the Tyneside club fail to qualify for Europe. The clause was included as part the deal which brought Owen to St James' Park in a £16million move from Real Madrid in August 2005 and will be activated by Newcastle's lowly Premiership finish this season.
Toon chairman Freddy Shepherd admitted when he signed Owen that clauses were included as part of the deal, saying: "Of course Michael has clauses in his contract. In this day and age, all top players do." And if former Bolton boss Sam Allardyce is named as Newcastle's new manager in the next few days, then one of his first tasks will be to persuade the hitman to pledge his future to the club.
Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are all thought to be monitoring the situation and would be able to offer Owen Champions League football and a more realistic chance of winning silverware. But Newcastle are hoping the striker will remain loyal to the club after playing only 12 games for them in two injury-plagued seasons on Tyneside.
Owen, who still has two years to run on his contract, has recently expressed guilt at being unable to help Newcastle in their quest for honours during his time in the North East. He said: "For the first hour when I did my cruciate, my first feeling was one of guilt, to the chairman and the fans and even down to the people who sponsor your boots and invest so much in you.
"I'm one of those people who feel sorry for others before they think of themselves. Hopefully I can make up for lost time." But it remains to be seen if Owen will stay with the underachieving Magpies if one of the Premiership's heavyweight sides comes calling over the summer. -
Why does NUFC like to screm themselves in the butt?
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i think owen still has some good years ahead of him
too bad, he is injury prone -
I would say for $9m, he is still a very good buy to any club...
No point staying with toon... wasting his career there only. -
but which top club will wanna buy an injury prone player
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i cant believe that newcaslte tot they could actually achive a euro spot with roeder in chage
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Not CL but maybe Uefa cup?Originally posted by used:i cant believe that newcaslte tot they could actually achive a euro spot with roeder in chage 
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i think owen will stay at least for one more season, he should at least return the gratitute and support when he was injured for most of the two seasons in the toon outfit. i think thats the right thing to do, not every footballer have a price on their head like some russians think..
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Shepherd challenges Owen to pledge his loyalty
Michael Owen's position at Newcastle has come under scrutiny after the public emergence of a £9m get-out clause in his contract. The uncertainty over the striker's commitment to Newcastle, which has been present ever since the day he arrived at St James' Park, has increased markedly with the revelation of the clause and the chairman, Freddy Shepherd, last night challenged the striker to pledge his future to the club.
"I'm telling Michael he has two choices," said Shepherd. "He either comes out and tells our fans, who have taken him to their hearts, that he is happy here or I tell him that not one of the big four clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool, are interested in him. Because that's the case. The loyalty this club has shown him over the last two years when he had injury problems in his first season and has missed virtually all of this season deserves something in return."
Having played in only 14 Newcastle games since his £17.5m transfer from Real Madrid in August 2005, Owen has expressed "guilt" about his metatarsal and knee ligament injuries blighting his Newcastle career but there has been no definitive statement from him that he will be a Newcastle player in August. There is an expectation inside and outside the club that Owen will feel a sense of moral obligation towards Newcastle after they rehabilitated him following his knee injury at last year's World Cup and paid more than half of his weekly wage of £115,000. But, while the forward has talked of his guilt at missing about 16 of the 21 months he has been on Tyneside, there has been no confirmation from the player that he will stay for next season.
Newcastle fans would like to hear Owen say he will be at St James' regardless of offers this summer. In Saturday's match programme Owen responded to a question about his future by saying he would "hopefully play and score more goals for Newcastle United"; but he did not use the words "next season".
Owen said in October in an after-dinner speech: "In terms of how long I stay at Newcastle, I'm here as long as everybody wants me. I had four years on my contract when I signed last year, so I would say at least that length of time and then you'd have to ask the chairman for the rest."
Newcastle would like to hear something comparable now as would, presumably, Sam Allardyce, the former Bolton manager, who is expected to be announced as Glenn Roeder's successor next week, although it is understood no contract has been signed and there are prolonged discussions over the make-up and size of Allardyce's potential backroom staff. -
I thought he was also sold cheaply to RM.Originally posted by zocoss:I would say for $9m, he is still a very good buy to any club...
No point staying with toon... wasting his career there only. -
not free transfer meh?Originally posted by iceFatboy:I thought he was also sold cheaply to RM.
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no..Originally posted by gigabyte14:not free transfer meh?
i think it was like 4m + antonio "noob"nez -
Real Madrid eventually came to sign him for a fee of £8 million on 13 August 2004, with midfielder Antonio Nunez moving in the other direction as a make-weight.Originally posted by club18:no..
i think it was like 4m + antonio "noob"nez
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Owen -
any interested club will be taking a gamble on his fitness, first and foremost, will he be the former Flying Owen who lit up the Kop?
Don't forget, he was used to be known to be speedy but this attribute is affected by his age. Also, he had a serious injury which we still don't know whether it will hamper permanently his skills. If you look at Owen, he has speed and not much else, he has no height to head nor the physique to hold back defenders. He relies on his speed. Currently, Martins is already providing that .
If i am SAF, I will lay off Owen & turn my attention to Berbatov or Eto -
Anfield calls for boy who never wanted to leave
The question was put to me by the host of an Irish football talkshow but it really should be asked by the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. "Why on earth should a club pay £16 million for a player and then insert a clause in his contract that he can leave for £9 million?" Because they were desperate. Because they were Newcastle United.
The buy-out clause in Michael Owen's contract is exhibit A for the argument that he never really wanted to go to Newcastle. Although his chairman, Freddy Shepherd, might make a desperate plea for the player to show some loyalty to the club for whom he has played 13 games in two seasons, he ought not to feel betrayed. Owen never really wanted to play for Real Madrid either. Like Ian Rush, Owen looks out of place in a black-and-white shirt, let alone an all-white strip. All he has ever wanted to do is play for Liverpool and England.
Given that almost his first act as Liverpool manager was to sell him, it is strange to think that, initially, Owen was far more positive about Rafael Benitez's appointment than Steven Gerrard, who had a deep bond with Gerard Houllier and was for a time suspicious that an influx of Spanish players would make Anfield a Valencia on the Mersey.
Owen needed an arm round his shoulder, to be reminded of what he was to Liverpool and what Liverpool were and could be again. Benitez gave him no reassurances and Real Madrid stood glittering on the horizon. So Owen went and although he could talk about the lifestyle, the fact that in terms of goals per minute played he was a success at the Bernabeu, he was never at the heart of the club as he had been at Liverpool, he was never a galactico.
When Gerrard and Owen discussed moves to hypothetical clubs away from Liverpool they always stipulated that wherever they went should be in the Champions League. Whatever Sam Allardyce is promising it is not an immediate return to Europe's top table but a root-and-branch reform of an institution who have somehow managed to spend more than £236 million in 15 years without winning anything more than the Intertoto Cup.
Owen is 27; he has not played properly since December 2005, he would be a risk for any manager but with American money about to flood through Anfield, Benitez has room to gamble and, as he proved with Peter Crouch and Robbie Fowler, he likes a wild card. It is time to bring the boy home.