Michael Owen’s return to Liverpool perhaps had a further move forward tonight when the striker was excluded from Real’s match squad for their opening league fixture.
Real travelled to Cadiz for the fixture, and Owen wasn’t even named amongst the seven subs. The player was however included in the England squad announced tonight.
As well as Liverpool working behind the scenes to sign the player, Newcastle United have been showing interest publicly in doing a deal to buy Owen. Today though saw Newcastle fall to yet another defeat in the Premiership leaving them second-bottom in the early table. With just one point taken from an available 12, manager Graeme Souness will be worried about his future. Owen’s time at Real Madrid was problematic for many reasons, not least of which was the turnover of coaches by the Spanish giants. Would Owen want to come home to face the same difficulties?
Liverpool’s work to bring Owen home has continued over the weekend. Owen would see a move to the struggling Toon army as a major step down for himself, and despite stories that he will move to the North East in today’s press the player will not entertain the idea of a permanent move.