Newcastle legend Alan Shearer is confident Magpies striker Michael Owen will still be at St James' Park at the start of next season.
Owen has been linked with a move away from Newcastle after it emerged he had a buy-out clause inserted into his Magpies contract.
And despite all the speculation, Owen has refused to say whether he will still be a Newcastle player by the start of the new season.
However, Shearer - who played a big part in persuading Owen to join Newcastle from Real Madrid two summers ago - believes that he and Mark Viduka can form a tremendous partnership next season for Sam Allardyce.
Shearer told the Newcastle Evening Chronicle: "I am sure there are lots of people who want to ask me whether I think Michael Owen will be at Newcastle next season.
"To be honest, I don't think anyone would be prepared to pay £10million or £11million for him until they have seen him play for five or six months.
"So if anyone says to me 'will he be here next season' I would have to say yes, I think he will be.
"And I also think him playing up front with Mark Viduka will be a great partnership for United.
"Viduka is great at holding the ball up and we all know how great Michael is at scoring goals.
"So I don't think there will be many better partnerships out there in the Premiership next season than the one at St James' Park."
