Magpies swoop for Owen

MICHAEL OWEN will make his Premiership return with struggling Newcastle after the club pulled off their biggest transfer coup since landing Alan Shearer.

Nine years after they invested a world record £15m (€22m) to bring Shearer to Tyneside from Blackburn, the Magpies beat that figure to clinch a shock deal to land Real Madrid forward Owen from under the noses of his former club Liverpool.

The 25-year-old passed a medical yesterday afternoon and Newcastle called a press conference to unveil him at noon today.