Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill yesterday refused to rule out a move for Michael Owen, the Newcastle United striker, to partner newly arrived Emile Heskey at Aston Villa.
Michael Owen – is an Aston Villa bid on the way?
O’Neill picked up Heskey for £3.5M, with his contract ending at Wigan Athletic in the summer, and of course Michael Owen’s contract at St James’ Park expires at the end of the season and a bid of around £5M could tempt Newcastle.
But Joe Kinnear will be adamant that neither Shay Given nor Michael Owen, two of Newcastle’s best players, will be leaving the club in January.
And certainly we don’t think that would go down well with Newcastle fans, since we need the two of them for the relegation scrap ahead – Shay to stop the goals against us, and Michael to score the goals for us.
Martin O’Neill told The Sun yesterday:
“I’m not saying that I will move for Owen in the summer – I’ve not looked at anything at that remote a distance,”
“But that’s not to say Michael Owen is not a terrific player. We wait to see. Anything is possible. Kaka is a possibility!”
“We want to try and compete at this level but what’s happening in the future? I have no idea.”
Owen and Heskey played together for both England and Liverpool and proved a very good partnership and Michael scored a lot of goals alongside the big man, whom Fabio Capello has used so well for England.
Aston Villa are now where we hoped Newcastle would be, after their American owner Daniel Levy came in and has backed Martin to the full, and kept in the background – and Aston Villa are now 4th top and going for a European Champions place next season.
This would be interesting to Owen for a number of reasons:
- He could partner Heskey who he’s been successful with before at Liverpool and England
- Michael could get European Football again, which he’s had very little of at Newcastle United.
- He would have a better chance of returning to the England fold in the very good and attacking Aston Villa side
Add to that the fact Newcastle could get £5M for him, while they’ll be getting nothing for him in the summer, and it could be a good deal.
But we don’t think Joe Kinnear will do this, since it would seriously damage our ability to stay in the Premier League, and we still hope Michael will stay at the club in the summer, although we admit that could well be a forlorn hope.
Thinks – why couldn’t Newcastle have brought in Heskey to partner Owen at Newcastle?
Comments welcome.
107 comments so far
Troy Stavers
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Comment #81amazing wot yi find in these bushes like… bits o paper wi Stardusts address on and Mike Ashleys. unbelieveable!! oh my god, the bizzie copters up!! heeds doon!
CR9
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Comment #82Entertainers…
Are you havin a luagh? Owen is the worst captain i’ve ever seen in a black n white shirt. He will never ever open his mouth, when you need someone to lift the team he’s never there. And i really don’t think he’s the type of player who leads by example. Remember Shearer…he would get stuck in, hold the ball up, nd you know that he’d tell every player what he thought of them, both on the pitch and in the dressing room. Owen just keeps his mouth shut, waits for the ball to come to him. He’s got no fight. He’s holding us back. We’d be better off without him, and having a younger player partnering Oba, even if it was Carrol wed look a million times better.
Take the 5 million for him now, get him off the ridicuous wage he’s on, and get someone new in who’s going to fight for the cause, because im sick of watching his piss poor efforts to try and make it look like he’s doing enough, just so another team will pay his wages at the end of the season.
Dream on Michael, you’re past it!
Troy Stavers
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Comment #83am ganna use me skeleton key to get inside SJP, yi kna the same one as a used to escape from the bizzie van. Im through the first door, and walking along the corridor….. wey hey, Chairmans office.!!
it’s empty!!
Had on, the chief execs office is here! That’s empty as weel!!
Riiiiight., The Owners office is here. I’ll try that!!
Stardust “”What you doing here””?
The Real Entertainers
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Comment #84CR9
(You do realise thats Ronaldo’s trademark !)
Moving swiftly on………. I did consider the fact he is not a shouter on the pitch, but he is our leader (the armband gives it away)
He may not be a Shearer when he crosses that white line, but he will be respected and deserves to be by his fellow professionals, if not all non-ignorant fans for what hes done in football. So his leadership style may well be purely off the pitch.
But lets face it Newcastle and England managers have seen fit to make him captain in the past.
I agree hes not our best captain ever and even considered this when typing my bog which was why i wrote : leader / figurehead.
As there is no denying hes our leader (regardless of your opinion on his quality) and he is, was and always will be a figurehead…..hes Michael Owen.
The Real Entertainers
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Comment #85Troy………..far too much time on your hands….lol 😉
Troy Stavers
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Comment #86i’m bored now , offski
Ericles
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Comment #87A captain on his name and wages only. Shay should have the armband. Barton is a better motivator as well. Anyway, we are in the massage phase of Owen going to Villa. Dirty deeds are being hatched on the mobile phone in that goblin Wise’s pocket. Mark my words!!!
Raffo
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Comment #88troy, thats classic
Ericles
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:36 PM
Comment #89Need you back soon Oba because you are our black and white number 9! O’Neill wants Owen to feed off those fantastic Milner centres. Or am I dreaming?
Phillippe Alberrrrrrrt
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Comment #90I’m so so sick off waking up with the hope that we will sign someone up and being let down time and time again. I thought the whole point of the Wise brigade was to find and put in place deals for decent players! It begs the question just what the F**K have the scouting team been doing. How can Mike Ashley justify the 1million pound a year contracts he’s paying Wise and LambArse when they aren’t taking care of his investment? How can he pay JFK 30 grand a game when he has NO clue how to manage a football team in short is he blind or just f**kin stubborn
Wigaz
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Comment #91Let him go take the money & go & get Bent as his replacement. Bent wants away from spurs he’s more than capable of coming in to our team & score the goals Owen would as a matter of fact playing up top with oba i think Bent would score more. Harry would prob take £8m for him easy so let Owen go for £5m & use that money plus £3m of Joe’s ten to get him. Then we can hand Barton the armband & he can wear it with pride! We could sell Zog too as mentioned above & Given as much as i’d hate to see him go GK is one of the areas were strongest in. We could then go get Baines from Everton at Lb & Maybe even bid for Richards if city want rid who can play RB while beye is injured & CB when he returns. I think if these sales take place we should have a cheeky bid for Arshavin too! Dreaming i Know but you never know. Realistic side after window.
========Harper=======
Richards==Colo=Bassong=Baines=
Jonas==Barton==Guthrie==Duff=
=======Bent====Oba======
Fair enough Given Owen & zog gone but look how much team would be strengthened!
normag
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Comment #92Agree with somer of the previous posts, Owen for Carew would be GREAT! What a strikerpartnership we would have with Martins and Carew! Frightening! Bags of pace, strenght and energy 🙂
Hugh de Payen
Jan 24, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Comment #93I appreciate the ‘high wages’ comments and such, but I don’t think we can afford to let Owen go.
That’s £5m or so now against £100m+ if we get relegated.
Sure, Owen’s had a disappointing few games but he’s still more likely to score than any other player we have and we need goals if we’re to stay up.
I think we could only sell him if he’s replaced by a striker who is equally as good and can score roughly a goal every 2 games like Owen can.
I think we need to be very aware that we’re in a relegation fight here.
doofa the loofa
Jan 24, 2009 at 1:01 PM
Comment #94let him go… our shambles is easy pickings for other clubs. we should have got heskey if we wanted owen to stay.
doofa the loofa
Jan 24, 2009 at 1:02 PM
Comment #95anyone know what heskey’s wages are ?
blue
Jan 24, 2009 at 1:32 PM
Comment #96If anybody body thinks Owen is worth £105.000 a week missing sitters after sitters draining fianaces we have not got to give away. being a captain of our club and has nothing to say about newcastle shows no fight in matches have not sighned a new contract and never will GET RID NOW make some other fool take on the over rated striker. Owen is not the player he was at liverpool with pace movement accuracey. Martins is are best striker end of the games we have lost in the past few weeks Martins has not been involved. We might get relegated like or not its the truth we have players like owen just walking around on the pitch waiting for pay day. Nzogbia owen geremi capapa duff smith they need to be shown the door get the wage bill right down below 50 and get young fresh talent who want to play for the shirt. NEVER TRUST ASHLEY HE IS 80% of the the turmoil he should never of bought newcastle if he never wanted to spend money on the team coaches and KEEGAN would not have been in this position in the league 442 does not work for newcastle we had better results with 433 Keegan realised that. I really hope we stay up but I will be the first down at the end of the season with my banner ASHLEY OUT no point doing it now their is enought shxx going on at the club SUNDERAND GAME IS BIGGER THAN EVER
toonarmyuk
Jan 24, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Comment #97£5m for Owen and £14m for Given would be me nicely. So long as we sell them now, and therefore have time to get replacements in before the window closes. I reckon Johnson plus cash from city for Given, and sell Owen and get another striker in….I bet there’s loads available! Also, the spare money from Given would top up the funds needed for Mbia!
Tommy_PA
Jan 24, 2009 at 1:59 PM
Comment #98Owen will go in the summer, but at 5m I would have to say it would be worth keeping him to increase our chances of staying up.
He’s not the player he was, but as not many are performing to the highest standard right now it is hard to point the finger at just Owen [though I know there is a wages argument as well].
We know JK missed a chance to blood the youngsters in the cup competitions, so how about this, take Owen out of the big 4 games and put in some young blood. Owen is a known quantity and doesn’t do well for us in those games, so put Carrol, Ranger out there with Lovenkrands or Martins. Tell them it’s there big chance and to pay those teams no false respect…maybe we’ll appear like a team with some balls for a change.
Face it, right now there aren’t many who would give us a chance of getting any points in those games anyway right now.
ObaFan2
Jan 24, 2009 at 2:21 PM
Comment #99Just a rumor I heard and wondered if any1 else has heard something similar:
Toon will be sold in the Summer and they already have talked with Shearer to take over as manager.
The reason for the loan signings this transfer window is because Shearer doesn’t want to have a huge clear-out with too many players on long contracts when he takes the helm…….
Well just summit I heard! Has any1 else?
Mikeflame
Jan 24, 2009 at 2:30 PM
Comment #100obafan; i heard it in my dreams!
Little Willie
Jan 24, 2009 at 2:35 PM
Comment #101Getting rid of him and Viduka will be a big lift off the clubs shoulders financially and allow us to be more flexible in the transfer market.
3D_Delnaja
Jan 24, 2009 at 2:47 PM
Comment #102I agree on gettin rid of that sluggish Viduka.
But to lose Owen now would be devastating, Martins can score goals but mostly he is working uphill considering that we don`t have any midfielders with prem quality, Butt is the only one that shows spirit of the miserable ones there along with Duff. I have no hopes of us signing any quality this window but I do know who we are getting rid of this summer though…
N`zogbia – crybaby & underachiever
Owen – we can find cheaper & younger & better
Geremi – pure S#%T
Viduka – Too old, too slow, too bad,too injured
Smith – no comment necessary
Edgar – where did we find this guy?
Cacapa – come on
Ameobi – he`s had his chance
3D_Delnaja
Jan 24, 2009 at 2:51 PM
Comment #103Oh and about that illusion with Shearer as manager, keep on dreaming lads.
I for one would welcome it cause of his power within the club no owner would dare to fire him in a brief period that`s for sure, & we really need stability more than ever.
& he would certainly get rid off our cry babies & underachievers.
ian
Jan 24, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Comment #104The Sunderland fans are moaning about Jones, but also a little about Cisse, if the fans get on Cisse’s back he will refuse to stay, he doesnt forget, Cisse and Martins are the perfect combination for us.
I havent heard a rumour about it being sold.
chuck
Jan 24, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Comment #105I`d let him go for 5m. add a few bob and go for Saviola, he`s going for zilch in the summer anyway.
Plus with his wages off the table we could afford to make Saviola a decent offer and face it he looks like he`s just going through the motions lately.
CR9
Jan 24, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Comment #106Entertainers…
Yeah he is our leader, and he is the figurehead in the team, however, what worries me is, that he is getting his place in the team based on his reputation and because he is Michael Owen, instead of basing it on the quality of his performances, hence my beliefs that he’s holding us back.
I think we’ve already got figurehards in the team, without needing Owens head. Given, Beye (when fit), Coloccini, have all got experience, and give more to the team than owen in my opinion.
che84
Jan 24, 2009 at 8:53 PM
Comment #107Aston Villa. They are always interested in the players we want and know they want our players….forgetit.