For any club after a proven goalscorer, slightly shop-soiled,
runs reliably if well-looked after, St James’ Park today is the
perfect place to pick up a bargain.
With just hours left until the chaos of football’s January
transfer bazaar, Michael Owen could not have hoped for a better
pitch from which to hawk his wares.
On television, he has a captive market to prove why England
should remember its forgotten man. No doubt the eagle-eyed scouts
and battle-hardened hagglers of a host of Premier League clubs will
be in attendance, too.
Manchester City are ready with a £6 million bid. Chelsea,
Tottenham and Arsenal are all in need of added firepower. But the
one man Owen would dearly love to entice will likely greet any
evidence of his undimmed predatory instincts with fury – visiting
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez.
It was Benitez who was forced, against his will, to kowtow to
Owen’s demand to move to Real Madrid when he first arrived in the
summer of 2004. It was Benitez who refused to stump up the £16
million Newcastle offered when, his Spanish adventure failed, Owen
returned to England, desperate to join the then-European
champions.
Now it is Benitez who offers Owen hope for the future. He has
just six months left on his contract at St James’s Park. Newcastle
will cash in should they receive an offer tempting enough, rather
than lose him for nothing but a host of what-ifs in June.
It is thought Owen’s representatives will use Liverpool’s visit
to St James’s to try to engineer a meeting with both Benitez and
Rick Parry, who controls the comings and goings at Anfield,
although already there are those within the Liverpool camp who need
no persuading as to Owen’s merits.
“Michael Owen is still a terrific goalscorer and he will be a
terrible threat to us,” said assistant coach Sammy Lee. “He’s
someone we’ll have to keep our eyes on when we play them. We know
exactly what qualities Michael Owen has got.”
Those qualities may not be enough to ensure the return of the
prodigal. Owen’s refusal to sign an extension have been interpreted
as a stalling tactic to smoke out interest from clubs with better
prospects.