Michael Owen
Sunday May 11,2008

By John Richardson Michael Owen will run his contract down and leave on a free transfer rather than agree to take a pay cut as Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley insists on slashing the St James’ Park budget.

The England striker is on a staggering £115,000-a-week deal on Tyneside – one which brought Ashley out in a cold sweat whenhe bought the club last year.

In a totally frank meeting in London on Friday, Ashley told manager Kevin Keegan there would be no huge transfer budget this summer and that the present player wage bill was far too high.

Keegan has been urging Ashley and his cohorts, chairman Chris Mort, executive director Dennis Wise, newly appointed deputy chairman Derek Llambias and influential vice-president Tony Jimenez to sort out Owen’s future.

The Newcastle boss feels that Owen is integral to his plans and is believed to have been dismayed when Ashley drew up a reduced contract for the striker of around £80,000 a week – the new wage ceiling at the club.

Owen has only a year left on his contract and was uncertain about his future. His wife Louise and children have recently moved back to North Wales, leaving Owen by himself in the North East.

Now his mind has virtually been made up by Newcastle’s decision to cut his wages. He will turn down any reduced offer, leaving the Geordies to take a big loss on the player who cost them £16million from Real Madrid.

And another player Keegan is anxious to keep, England Under-21 defender Steven Taylor, is unlikely to receive the pay rise he wants and so could also leave St James’.