Transfers - Gossip Shop: Owen's Brucey bonus

Eurosport - Wed, 17 Dec 21:38:00 2008

Despite being told where to go last season, Wigan Athletic are renewing their interest in hand-rubbing, pretend nice-guy Michael Owen.

FOOTBALL Newcastle United Michael Owen - 0

The Newcastle United striker is mulling over a contract offer in the region of £90,000 a week to stay at Toon for the rest of his career, but Wigan boss Steve Bruce is set to launch an audacious bid once the transfer window opens as they try to replace the outgoing Emile Heskey.

It is a win-win situation for Bruce as at the very least it would convince Heskey of the Latics' ambition and make him re-think his plan to let his contract wind down or move in January.

At best it could see England's Germany-destroying frontline of 2001 reunited at the JJB Stadium. It would also show Zamalek and Amr Zaki that they mean business.

If Rafael Benitez ever spoke to his players he would haul Steven Gerrard into his office and demand why he is telling Mark Lawrenson that Robbie Keane will be on his way in January.

Fortunately for Gerrard, Benitez does not like to talk to his players and as the Liverpool captain is far too good to be dropped or sent on loan to Hoffenheim, Rafa will probably blink a few times and email him a memo reminding him of his responsibilities.

Or Benitez and/or Gerrard could just sue Lawrenson, who claimed: "I had a drink with Steven Gerrard at a function on Saturday night. [Keane and Gerrard] share the same agent, and he thinks something is going to happen in January. He thinks he's going to be moved on."

There are several things wrong with this statement. Firstly, the implication that Gerrard went out for a drink THE NIGHT AFTER A GAME casts aspersions over the man's professionalism, which has never been doubted before. Drinking after a game is the worst thing you can do, aside from drinking the night before a game or drinking during it. GS knows, having done all three and scored a hat-trick against the Rose and Crown second XI between tactical chunders on the sidelines.

Secondly, the "he thinks something is going to happen in January" thing is either pretty off-key from Gerrard, a lie from Lawrenson or an indiscrete breach of that confidential relationship that you would risk with Eric Djemba-Djemba but not with one of the best players in the world.

Lawrenson has since back-tracked furiously, manoeuvring into the wiggle room afforded by his failure to specify; a) what Stevie G was drinking, and b) whether "he thinks" refers to Gerrard or the agent.

Keane could go back to striker-shy Tottenham in a cut-price deal that writes off the remaining £10 million or so Liverpool still owe, while Newcastle themselves could move as they seek a replacement for Owen.

One place Keane will not be going to is Portsmouth, who have turned their attentions to a top-quality midfielder after Real Madrid made a "substantial" bid for Lassana Diarra . Now Harry Redknapp has gone, the pressure is on Tony Adams to flex his muscles in the transfer market for the first time in his career.

One contact he does have is Arsene Wenger. Now they are out of the Carling Cup, youngsters Mark Randall, Jack Wilshere and Fran Merida could all do with a loan spell away from the Emirates.

Another potential raiding ground could be Sunderland, who have an entire first XI of players to shed. Teemu Tainio - who has only started six matches since joining from Tottenham in the summer - would be an experienced replacement, while Wigan's Michael Brown is also available, which could help fund the aforementioned, audacious bid for Owen.

Obviously Pompey would much rather bring in Bayern Munich's Mark van Bommel, Zenit St Petersburg's Anatoliy Tymoshchuk or Valencia's Edu, who are all available and all speak English. They may not want to go, though.

Dropping down to the Championship, Bournemouth defender Shaun Cooper has been linked with a £100,000 move to table-toppers Wolves, who are also eyeing up Watford's former Arsenal trainee John-Joe O'Toole. Midlands and promotion rivals Birmingham City, meanwhile, have told Peterborough to take a hike after they were quoted a whopping £4 million for Craig Mackail-Smith.

Eurosport

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  1. Owen is at stage in his career where if he's truly­ 100 per cent up for rising to play for England again he­ should keep at it where he is. If the 4 year offer is­ correct that's bloody fantastic considering his­ liability to injury. £100,000 grand a week surrounded­ by the best fans in the country and horses to play­ with. Please give me some magic feet for christmas.

    From Alan H, on Thu 18 Dec 11:14AM

  2. whoever wrote this article has not got a clue about­ football and really doubt whether they hav ever played­ the game.go back 2 writin bout the NFL.idiot.

    From kelvinbrown02, on Thu 18 Dec 10:04AM

  3. 40-42...i suggest that if you want to comment on­ grammar and spelling mistakes you should both do­ something useful and f**k off and take up teaching!!­ This is a site for people to air their OWN opinions and­ not to ave two nana's like ye coming on to comment­ on bad grammar,let the people do what they want,it­ happens,you gonna go to other sites and complain on­ their grammar?? Its banter that goes on here,its fun­ and its a laugh,so please,if you want to make a­ difference,stay off this site and go take up­ teaching,this aint an english grammar site­ moron's!!!

    From george.bustin, on Thu 18 Dec 10:02AM

  4. 42 - You missed a comma after; "shocking".­ Lazy punctuation really gets on my nerves, sorry.

    From David L, on Wed 17 Dec 10:43PM

  5. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer...no

    From First L, on Wed 17 Dec 9:49PM

  6. Owen = Liverpool ,and that is that...Nobody could deny­ it. YNWA

    From StevenP, on Wed 17 Dec 9:16PM

  7. michael, stay where you are

    From jtpmetalcraft, on Wed 17 Dec 8:28PM

  8. By the way, michael Owen is only interested in one­ thing now. And it's not football.
    Horseracing is­ his first love. And after investing heavily into his­ training complex near his home, he will join a club­ near there.
    He will join a club within a 50 mile radius­ of his home/stables.
    You read it here first!!!

    From Mick, on Wed 17 Dec 7:48PM

  9. 40 and 42, Glad to see it's not just me that's­ had it up to the gills with bad spelling and­ punctuation. And as for that "kiddy text speak­ lingo e.g. wiv, ur, u,cme,bucs etc, it just shows me­ how dumb,illiterate and lazy some people (usually­ youth, but catching on to "real adults" now)­ really are.
    I will not reply to texts or emails sent in­ this sad form of "language".
    Hats off to you­ two, and keep up the good work.
    P.S. Owen and Keane are­ joining Everton. The milkman told me, so must be­ right!!!

    From Mick, on Wed 17 Dec 7:44PM

  10. 38.

    owen is still a good player, ok he's had more­ than his fair share of injuries so has lost some pace­ maybe, but he has changed his game accordingly.­ he's not always looking to hang on the last­ defender and run into space, he's become much­ better in the box. add that to his record of goals per­ game (for newcastle: 25 goals in 56 games)then what­ team wouldn't want to sign him on a free transfer­ or minimal transfer fee in January. Let's not­ forget he's eglands first ballon D'dor winner­ in almost twenty years, oh and a european player of the­ year to boot. As for your disloyal comment, what are­ you on about? anyone wanting to stay at newcastle at­ the moment would be nuts, well unless they were going­ to blackburn or sunderland that is.

    From rex_davies, on Wed 17 Dec 7:39PM

  11. out with keane
    in with owen
    (and this is coming from a­ die hard united fan)
    owen is still a great player and­ can do it. he just needs good balls in and decent­ chances. wigan should thank god if they sign owen.
    and­ whta do you mean "a pretend nice guy" hes ace­ !!!! a footballing hero to many people. people arnt­ going to like someone whose cocky like drogba (thats­ why noone likes him) and truth betold thats why some­ people dont like ronaldo, because he can come off as­ cocky. but owen is totally different to them­ players!!!!

    leave him alone!!!

    From ella_lauren93, on Wed 17 Dec 7:15PM

  12. 40 it is refreshing to have someone new on here who­ will express their views coherently, rather than the­ mindless jibberish you get from some. I like the sites­ as they do give an opportunity to air your opinions but­ it is full of up the reds up the blues ha ha ha you­ lost you scouser/mackem etc from the fanatics who have­ no other interests. It also shows you how illiterate­ many of our youngsters are now as the grammar and­ spelling are shocking but you do not need much of that­ to draw your benefit every week. I hope you will­ continue to take part. Everyone is entitled to their­ opinion but we should see more of it

    From taff, on Wed 17 Dec 7:08PM

  13. cme on u arabs cme wid big bucs 2 spurs

    From gillam85, on Wed 17 Dec 6:57PM

  14. I feel sorry for all these overpaid under-rated so­ called footballing (stars)who have never had a day­ job,talk about get a life. They would not hold down a­ day job because they would have to get up early ah­ diddums what a shame. I don't go to football­ matches now because I will NOT pay to see players belly­ aching at the ref every time he is fouled and falling­ down in penalty areas before getting the Kleenex out­ when the decision goes against him. Yes it is a mans­ game, so let it be a mans game and play it like men,­ instead of silly school girls who incidently have more­ bottle than a lot of these so called "stars"­ I have read a lot of comments on here and can't­ believe how a lot just get at each others throats over­ a bag of wind,it is supposed to be a sport for heavens­ sake please think about what I have said. Yes I am new­ on here but I feel this should be mentioned and let us­ get back to dicussing football as a social game and not­ anti-social. Thank you.

    From Hugh, on Wed 17 Dec 6:41PM

  15. Leave it out, Owen suffered a horrific injury on duty­ for England, you can not blame him for that or­ subsiquent injuries no matter how much he is payed.­ Owen was only ever going to Newcastle for 6 months­ anyway to warm up for the world cup, great job they did­ og that hey? No wonder the poor lad wants out.

    From Alistair Stocking, on Wed 17 Dec 6:22PM

  16. Owen WAS a good player but which club would be insane­ enough to buy him. Overpaid, disloyal, mainly injured.­ Just what you need to keep up team morale eh?
    Hull City­ might be interested in a swap with Dean Windass plus­ money from the Geordies!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From Get rid of the Lords, on Wed 17 Dec 6:00PM

  17. neil.brettell : "Paul Parker could have­ 'wrote' a better 'artical' than­ this!!"

    Richard C : "Being a good­ footballer, which you were, does not­ 'neciserally' make you a good writer"

    I­ love the fact that the two people having a go at Paul­ Parker can't spell to save their lives.

    From Bry, on Wed 17 Dec 5:51PM

  18. You are welcome to him at Wigan , he'll probably­ trip over a crisp and break a toenail and be injured­ for the rest of his career (on full pay of course)

    From btwebdesign, on Wed 17 Dec 5:04PM

  19. david b...I'm liking the RESPECT line. Thank you.­ And Richard C your right being a footballer doesnt make­ you a good writer, but it does help when it comes to­ writing about how the players are thinking. We get a­ lot of abuse about contact talks when really most of­ the deal is completed between agents and the clubs. I­ think Owen will be at Man City after Christmas but not­ just for the money, after speaking to him recently I­ think he just needs a change. Which will be good for­ all England fans. -p.p-

    From neil.brettell, on Wed 17 Dec 5:00PM

  20. owen is going no where he is staying at the toon for­ good till the end and that is it he has become toon lad­ for good a (Magpies) come on the lads

    From simon, on Wed 17 Dec 5:00PM
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