Michael Owen ready to join Manchester United

Jul 3 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

IN a summer when raising as much cash as possible through player sales will be crucial, Newcastle United will today watch record signing Michael Owen join Manchester United.

The 29-year-old, released at the end of last season, will join the Premier League and world champions if he passes a medical today.

After just one goal in 14 appearances during 2009, Owen’s departure would not have been mourned on Tyneside as recently as yesterday. But the thought that a manager as well respected as Sir Alex Ferguson can see something in the former Magpies captain that Newcastle proved totally incapable of coaxing out of him last term will infuriate their fans.

To add insult to injury, Stoke City have dismissed out of hand the suggestion they might be interested in buying the man who has succeeded Owen as Newcastle’s most high-profile striker, Obafemi Martins. Little wonder morale on Tyneside is so low.

With the exception of those whose contracts expired, the players who took Newcastle down from the Premier League last season are back in pre-season training without a manager, and the club as a whole is rudderless until owner Mike Ashley finds a buyer.

Although managing director Derek Llambias showed a mystery Malaysian bidder around the club yesterday, no parties in the process are legally able to comment and the silence is doing nothing to reassure supporters eight days before Newcastle’s first pre-season game.

Newcastle had no choice but to allow Owen to run down his contract after relegation put his wage demands far beyond their scope. The Magpies offered their captain a new deal at the turn of the year, but withdrew it when it remained unsigned weeks later.

A record of 30 goals in 79 games would have been good were it spread over two seasons, but over four injury-plagued years at St James’s Park it was not.

The Red Devils’ interest came as a major surprise, coming as it did long after Owen’s agent took the unusual step of producing a glossy brochure to advertise their client, a move which smacked of desperation.