Michael Owen has confirmed to Setanta Sports, that he is currently involved in talks with his club Newcastle United, on a contract extension.
Michael Owen – in contract talks with Newcastle
The striker joined Newcastle 3 years ago from from Real Madrid on a four-year deal, and a transfer fee of around £17M.
But Michael has only appeared 46 times (41 starts) and scored 20 goals for the club, mainly due to a couple of extremely serious injuries.
Because of his terrible ACL injury at the World Cup in June, 2006 in Germany, while playing for England, Michael appeared just 3 times for Newcastle in the following season.
Owen seems to have been delighted with things at Newcastle ever since Kevin Keegan arrived in January, and we’re sure he wants to sign a new contract to stay on Tyneside.
Michael told Setanta Sports today:
“We’ve just opened contract talks, we are talking,â€
“I’ve got this season left regardless and we’re working on a deal to hopefully stay longer.”
“There’ll probably be news in a month or two.â€
Michael has said that the talent Newcastle have at the club, is one thing that makes him happy to stay at the club, as he continued:
“We’ve got a lot of good players.”
“We haven’t got a massive squad and we don’t want size for the sake of size.”
“I’m like any Newcastle supporter – I want the best players,â€
Michael has also assured fans he think he’s almost back to his best:
“I’d like to think I am back to my best.”
“This last year I played fully without hiccups to my knee.”
“That’s well behind me now.â€
Owen seems to just love playing for Kevin Keegan, and it has certainly been noticeable since January.
Michael has again sang the praises of Kevin, who has just returned back to Newcastle from his holidays in the US.
We would expect some signings to start being made, now that Kevin is back in Newcastle, and probably with itchy feet. 😀
Michael continued:
“He’s fantastic,â€
“I can only say I’ve been highly impressed and the whole place is buzzing again.â€
We expect Michael to sign a new contact but why would it take a month or two?
Anyway, Michael seems really pleased about things – and that’s very good. We want happy players at the club.
He sounds like a man who wants to be at Newcastle, when Kevin and the Board turn this ship around.
And make no mistake, they will do that – starting next season – keep the faith.
Comments welcome.
235 comments so far
mikeygd
Jun 18, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Comment #1hip hip horray!
Ian
Jun 18, 2008 at 6:54 PM
Comment #2The sort of comments we like to hear from a captain- except news in a month or two!!
How about a day or two?
Howie
Jun 18, 2008 at 6:58 PM
Comment #3patience is the key. come the start of season we will have 4 quality players in and owen and taylor signed up long term. dont forget last season are early buys (barton,rozenhal,geremi) were farily pants. our later signings(faye,beye) were our best and its still only mid june. by mid july we will have a few in.
WIGAZ
Jun 18, 2008 at 6:58 PM
Comment #4This is great news! he’s our star player! there’s no question about it! i know we’ve been sick of him being injured in the past but just look at how good he was towards the end of season! when fit & with a manger who knows how to motivate him! keeping him will help us land the likes of AA,Turan & Gomez coz MO is quality & quality players want to play in a team with him! thats him & taylor! now just Oba to go a couple of new players then bring on the mancs!
51times
Jun 18, 2008 at 6:58 PM
Comment #5I agree with the guy who commented on the Digard article, I think Owen is waiting to see who we sign.
Dave
Jun 18, 2008 at 6:59 PM
Comment #6Ian, football isn’t like football manager.
You can’t just offer a contract to someone and then they accept it straight away, there are many more things to it. Negotiations, bonuses, clauses etc.
Whether you like it or not, it does take a month or two for a contract to surface in the real world.
Slam Dunc
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:00 PM
Comment #7and if we could sign Huntelaar and Derdiyok around him which we could get for reasonable fees then we’d be up for scoring lots of goals next season:
http://www.trophy4toon.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=243.0
Graham
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:05 PM
Comment #8Taylor close to signing a long term contract, Owen in discussions about a new contract…. suddenly all the doom mongers have gone quiet.
This club is finally beginning to be run in a professional manner – something that’s been lacking in my living memory. Hopefully, Owen signing a new deal will serve as a carrot in getting some reasonably big names (not Deco Ronaldinho etc etc etc) theough the door before the start of the season.
Not sure why yet, but i’ve got a pretty good feeling about next season. By that I mean top 6-8 not runners up!
catawbamag
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:08 PM
Comment #9A month or two! You’d think they’d want to get it done faster than that.
I feel getting Mike locked in early would help us sign some of our other targets. Shows the club is committed and ambitious.
Today starts one to two months of hell for me. I feel hes vital to any success we have next year, and the King feels the same way.
Ian
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:14 PM
Comment #10Dave i disagree or how would they sign anyone in the January transfer window?
They have had time to think and prepare.
nate dawg
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:22 PM
Comment #11maybe a month or two wait because he wants to see the quality of players bought in and possibly compare there wages to what he is being offered
harrier
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:23 PM
Comment #12Ed – I think you should have used this pic 😉
http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/owen.jpg
Julio Geordio
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:27 PM
Comment #13@harrier………..he best have paid for that suit! 😉
DMAG
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:27 PM
Comment #14Owen and Taylor signed to long term contracts complimented with the the arrival of VDV,Crouch, Dunne, Shorey and Larsson and I would lick Beefy’s taint!
Geordie Gerrard7
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:48 PM
Comment #15what a ball from arshavin then
catawbamag
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:50 PM
Comment #16http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/owen.jpg
That suit and top hat are simply tragic. Then again those may be the new team suits Ashley got a bulk buy deal on at Fongs Chinese Tailor outlet.
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 7:57 PM
Comment #17great ball gg7
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Comment #18whoa! arshavin earns 50k already!!!
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:01 PM
Comment #19again another great pass from arshavin, maybe i have been underrating this guy
harrier
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:01 PM
Comment #2050k euros tho
Toonboy
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:04 PM
Comment #21Arshavin is class,i hope we get him. When was the deadline to sign him???
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:04 PM
Comment #22you sure? the commentators just said pounds, anyway, euro is almost as strong as the pound right now
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:05 PM
Comment #23deadline is 20th but i doubt thats true
Tom_Toon
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:05 PM
Comment #24no he gets £50k and bonuses, but he wants to move abroad, so the salary etc will be on our terms, but £50k is more than acceptable for a player of his quality.
Alan Smith is on £60k for christ’s sake!
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:06 PM
Comment #25would love to get zhirkov, bilyaletdinov and arshavin. how much you reckon that would come to tom toon?
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:07 PM
Comment #26THATS WHY I WANT ZHIRKOV! lol
Tom_Toon
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:07 PM
Comment #27about 35 million.
Tom_Toon
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:08 PM
Comment #28well zhirkov has been my pick for the left wing for aboot a year now.
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:08 PM
Comment #29seriously, i was thinking around 20mill lol, oh well
Aggi
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:09 PM
Comment #30Assist by arshavin this guy is amazing
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:09 PM
Comment #31yeah i remember
Matt Lacey
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:09 PM
Comment #32Russia 1 up then – Arshavin’s having a very good game so far
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:10 PM
Comment #33what a goal! started by arshavin
Tom_Toon
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:10 PM
Comment #34The assist was by Anyukov.
Pavlyuchenko is available for 6 mil apparently, really impressed me this tournament.
Spyro
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:11 PM
Comment #35me too tom, but his finishing hasnt been great, positioning and effort is very good though
harrier
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:12 PM
Comment #36that was fantastic goal. lets just buy the russian team.
Tom_Toon
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:13 PM
Comment #37Spartak are one of the poorer of the clubs in the russia league i think, thats why they are seling him for little compared to others.
Geordie Gerrard7
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:13 PM
Comment #38i like akinfeev alot. he would be good, yes zhirkov is very good, would love bilayatdenov (SP) also. for some reason i really like alot of russians and croations, my pick for a right winger right now would be srna
Nick C
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:14 PM
Comment #39That was such brilliant header by larrson. I would have loved him 2-3 years back. Total class.
Tom_Toon
Jun 18, 2008 at 8:15 PM
Comment #40yep, been my pick for a long time aswell 🙂
Been saying for ages we have o get him out of Shakhtar because he is too good for that league.