OWEN COMPENSATION
Newcastle United's demand for £20m in compensation from the FA over
the injury to Michael Owen is set to receive the influential
support of David Dein.
The Arsenal vice-chairman was appointed President of the G14 group
this week and immediately indicated that he would give the Toon's
compensation claim his full backing as part of the heavyweight
clubs' ongoing campaign against the inconvenience of international
football.
The G14 will back Newcastle and support them and I hope they would
support Arsenal if we decided to do something over Senderos.
Talks between Newcastle and the FA are already underway, Their
claim for £20m compensation will centre around the financial cost
of losing Owen for a minimum period of eight months.
Although the FA's insurers are willing to pay half of Owen's
£103,000-a-week wages for a year, the Toon also want to be
compensated for the deprecation in Owen's value due to the
long-term implications of such a serious knee injury, and the cost
of buying a replacement. They are likely to argue that, had Owen
been available, they would not have bought Obafemi Martins for
£10m.
