Michael Owen has shelved contract talks with Newcastle United because of fears over the club's Premier League status.

The England striker's £100,000-a-week deal expires at the end of next season, but it is unlikely that either Owen or the club would want to continue the arrangement if the Magpies drop to the Championship.

"There have been no talks on either side about a new deal and nothing has been mentioned about my contract," Owen told the Evening Chronicle.

"I don't want this interpreted as being a snub on either side, it is just that there are more important things to sort out at the moment than mine or any other player's new contract, and that is making sure we stay in the Premier League.

"But if or when the club want to talk to me, then I am prepared to talk. I am still only 28 and I feel I still have a lot of years of football left in me."

Injury and poor form have prevented Owen from providing a proper return on Newcastle's £17 million investment that brought him to St James' Park in 2005.

Even this season, when the 28-year-old has stayed fit to make 30 appearances for club and country, he has weighed in with just four league goals.

According to Eurosport's weekly player ratings - which total the marks out of 10 given in each game by five national newspapers - Owen has been the second-worst player in the Premier League this season, with only Derby's Jay McEveley rating lower.

On Monday the former Liverpool man launched an impassioned defence of his patchy displays, claiming: "I'm still the same player I was five years ago."

Owen scored 28 goals for Liverpool and four more for England in the 2002/03 season.

Alex Chick / Eurosport