Michael Owen not keen on move to Hull City
Jun 22 2009 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
MICHAEL Owen is extremely reluctant to join Hull City despite the Tigers’ audacious bid to sign the England international on a cut-price free transfer deal over the weekend.
Owen is entering his last nine days as a Newcastle United player after four disappointing seasons on Tyneside, which have seen the former European footballer of the year become the poster boy for Magpies excess.
Although the 29-year-old (pictured right) has scored 30 goals in just 65 starts in United’s colours, the cumulative effects of serious ankle and knee injuries, as well as a series of groin and thigh strains, has prompted many to question whether Owen is still the world-class striker he was when he moved to St James’s Park for £16.5m from Real Madrid.
Indeed, where once Owen was one of the most coveted strikers in European football, he is now struggling to find a Premier League club willing to take a gamble on his fitness and form.
That prompted his management team to produce a 32-page brochure to advertise their client’s benefits both on and
off the pitch. That had helped fuel Hull’s belief they might be able to persuade Owen to move to the KC Stadium on a one-year deal on basic wages of just £40,000-a- week, a £20,000 appearance fee and a goal bonus of £10,000, with an option of another year if he plays more than 15 games next season.
Owen, though, remains confident he can get a better offer from a more high-profile top-flight club and will instruct his advisors to keep searching for another employer.
The Journal understands Owen was keen to stay at Newcastle with Alan Shearer as manager if they had avoided relegation to the Championship, and he feels there are better clubs out there for him than unglamorous Hull.
The Tigers, though, may have more success in signing Kevin Nolan in a £2.5m deal.
The former Bolton star worked with Hull manager Phil Brown at the Reebok Stadium and has failed to settle at St James’s Park after he became Joe Kinnear’s first signing in the January transfer window.
Owen has been heavily linked with Everton – the club he supported as a boy and one which is near his Cheshire home – in recent months, and David Moyes is tempted to take a chance on a player who is still convinced he has the ability to regain his place in the England squad under Fabio Capello.
However, Everton’s rigid wage structure means he will not be offered more than £50,000 a week at Goodison Park and Moyes is still to make a definite decision on whether Owen will be able to fit into the Toffee’s style of play. Meanwhile, Obafemi Martins has emerged as a shock transfer target for Turkish club Besiktas who have money to spend as they prepare for next season’s Champions League campaign.
Martins, whose advisors have always tried to talk up interest in the Nigerian from clubs such as Arsenal and Aston Villa, has claimed he wants to stay on Tyneside to help Newcastle get back into the Premier League.
However, he earns more than £55,000 a week and the Magpies simply have to trim a wage bill which is a major threat to any takeover deal.
With no interest from English clubs, Martins may be forced to move abroad and Besiktas, who did the league and cup double last season in Turkey, have plenty of ambition.
