No Owen move before the end of August?

By European Football
August 12 2005

Several Spanish sources including Marca are claiming that any Newcastle United move for Michael Owen, would not happen until the very end of the transfer window.

This is because if Owen does not manage to spend a full 12 months out of the country he would be liable for an extra tax bill that could run to a couple of million euro.

And Newcastle manager Souness obviously has his sights firmly set on Owen stating:

"Without exciting the fans too much, I think there is a good chance; we are still in there.”

"We are targeting, and have been targeting, several players. The Michael Owen situation, we know everything about Michael's situation -- he is a target. He is a top player but we also have other targets.

"We are targeting some big players and big players are expensive and their clubs do not want to sell them but we already have some outstanding players here at Newcastle.

"If I was a gambling man, which I am not, I would bet that we would have someone new in before the transfer window closes."