Owen ‘very close’ to making a comeback

NEWCASTLE boss Glenn Roeder has admitted England striker Michael Owen is close to a comeback, despite ruling him out of a behind-closed doors friendly this week.

Roeder dismissed speculation the 27-year-old would return to action against a Hartlepool side tomorrow, although revealed he briefly considered unleashing him and Shola Ameobi after long fights for fitness.

However, Roeder insisted the £17 million man remains on course in his rehabilitation from knee surgery.

He said: “With Michael, is quite simple, very simple: the very fact we considered him for a game on Wednesday — and Shola is the same — and have decided not to play either of them just shows you how close both of them are to playing. You can make your own assumptions from that.

“Michael Owen is world news, not just British news, in football. If I say he is going to play in the middle of next week and he does not, hysteria breaks out that he has had a setback when he, for sure, has not.

“All I can say is we are getting very, very close. He is in great shape, he really is. Honestly, he is in great shape.”

No friendly has been arranged, although Roeder is confident he could remedy that at 24 hours’ notice.

He said: “We can pick up the phone to any local club and get a friendly pretty quickly, within a day. But we have not thought about arranging a friendly for next week just yet. We will see how this week goes first.”

Owen has not played since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in England’s World Cup clash with Sweden in June last year. He has made only 11 appearances for the Magpies since signing from Real Madrid in August 2005.

Meanwhile, Slovakian defender Lubomir Michalik has extended his loan stay with Leeds from Bolton until the end of the season. He was scheduled to return to the Reebok Stadium this week. However, Bolton boss Sam Allardyce has allowed the defender to remain at Elland Road and said: “We do have the option to call him back if we require him, but he is likely to play in all of Leeds’ remaining matches this season.”

Elsewhere, Ricardo Vaz Te will return to Wanderers tomorrow following his loan spell at Hull.