In an apparent U-turn, Newcastle United have offered Michael Owen a new three-year contract with a seemingly increased salary but it is far from certain that the England striker will sign it.
Owen's current deal expires in June and sources last night were insisting that the most he could hope to extract from Newcastle was a one-year extension on a significantly reduced remuneration package and that the club would be willing to sell him for as little as £2m before tomorrow night's transfer deadline.
However Owen's situation is understood to have been discussed at board level after Newcastle's 3-0 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday and, late last night, a club official issued a statement.
"Newcastle United can confirm that captain Michael Owen has been offered an extended and improved three-year contract," it said. "The proposed terms of the new deal include an increased salary for Michael and demonstrate the club's commitment to keeping him. And the club very much hope that the enhanced contract offer will keep him at St James' Park."
Although Owen's representatives are discussing this new offer with Newcastle there is some concern over the contractual small print which is believed to include several clauses dictating that the payment of the total proposed salary is dependent on various factors, including appearances.
Owen currently earns a basic £103,000 a week on Tyneside which, once assorted adds-on are taken into account, rises to around £120,000. It is thought that his could now be poised to increase by up to £20,000 but that Owen may need to remain fit while sustaining a certain level of performance in order to claim the full sum.
Negotiations over a new deal have dragged on since April with Kevin Keegan, the team's manager, anxious for Owen to be offered a new, enhanced, agreement but Mike Ashley, Newcastle's owner, who is determined to cut the wage bill, originally insisting that his remuneration should be slashed to £80,000.
Keegan, who reluctantly sanctioned the sale of James Milner to Aston Villa last week, became increasingly anxious that the failure to agree a new deal would leave Owen a free agent next summer and able to talk to rival clubs in January.
Last Wednesday Keegan met with Ashley and Dennis Wise, the club's executive football director, ostensibly to discuss Owen's position but, on Friday, the manager announced that talks about his contract had been postponed until Tuesday at the earliest.
By then reports about the proposed one year, extension were already circulating but Keegan dismissed such suggestions as "rumour" while refusing to rule out the possibility of the former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker being sold before the current transfer window closes. "No one is untouchable," said the former England coach.
Nonetheless it seems that Ashley has finally decided that Owen is the nearest thing Newcastle have to an indispensable player and, in the wake of a welter of negative publicity surrounding Milner's sale, has made Newcastle's captain an offer which, despite those numerous exclusion clauses buried in the small print, is unlikely to be surpassed elsewhere.
