Owen put Newcastle back on track - Albert

Michael Owen’s arrival at Newcastle has convinced Philippe Albert the club are heading in the right direction.

According to the Belgian, a member of the team who finished second to Manchester United in 1996, Newcastle can achieve their ambitions but will have to show patience over the next couple of years before being able to challenge for league honours.

Owen has scored two goals in his first three games for Newcastle since joining from Real Madrid for £17m, and the team are unbeaten since his arrival, despite collecting just one point from their previous four matches.

“Michael Owen was a great signing. He will go on and get a lot of goals for Newcastle. It was a big step forward for the club,” Albert told the Evening Chronicle.

“I remember playing against him. He is fantastic.

“I follow Newcastle’s results all of the time in Belgium and I think they can only get better now. Maybe they can challenge again for the Premiership but it may take two or three seasons.”

The arrival of Owen has limited Shola Ameobi’s first-team chances, and the former England Under-21 striker was in the reserves against Blackburn last night, when he sustained a calf injury.

Ameobi is optimistic he will shake off the injury in time for Saturday’s away game at Wigan, as the Premiership resumes following the international break.

“I got a kick on my calf early doors when one of their defenders went through the back of me, and it tightened up as the game went on,” he told www.nufc.co.uk.

“I couldn’t contribute as much as I’d have liked as I was struggling to run.”

Ameobi has recently recovered from a chest infection, and is confident his general health has improved over recent weeks, making the calf injury an irritant, albeit one he expects to recover from quickly.

“Hopefully this calf problem will ease down in a couple of days so I can stay involved with the first team at Wigan at the weekend,” he added.