Owen absense 'almighty blow' for Souness

Graeme Souness lamented a “dark day” for Newcastle as record £17million signing Michael Owen was ruled out for “several months” after sustaining a broken bone in his right foot at Tottenham.

Owen was injured in a collision with Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson as they contested a 50-50 ball just before half-time in a 2-0 victory for Spurs.

His metatarsal injury, which is similar to that suffered by David Beckham before the 2002 World Cup finals, was diagnosed after an x-ray at White Hart Lane.

Owen is expected to miss England’s next game in March but his participation in the 2006 World Cup finals should at least not be in danger, given that Beckham returned – albeit not fully fit – within about two months.

Newcastle will nevertheless bear the brunt of Owen’s absence, given that they are stranded in mid-table after their eighth league defeat of the season.

Souness revealed: “Michael Owen has broken his fifth metatarsal in his right foot. He’s had it x-rayed here and he will obviously be out for several months now.

“It’s a similar injury to David Beckham’s [in 2002]. It’s an almighty blow for us.

“Even when you’re not playing particularly well, you feel that you can win games with Michael in your team. I can’t tell you how big a miss he will be. It’s an absolute disaster for him and for us.”

If Owen was ruled out of any England games, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Darren Bent would be in contention to replace him alongside Wayne Rooney, but none of them can rival his experience or goalscoring potential.

To make matters even worse for Newcastle, goalkeeper Shay Given could also be ruled out of Monday’s Tyne-Tees derby with Middlesbrough – and possibly beyond - due to a suspected broken bone in his thumb.

Souness added: “Shay Given may have broken a bone in his thumb as well, so it’s not been a good afternoon for us. It looks like it will keep him out of the Middlesbrough game.

“He’s had it x-rayed but we’ve not had the results back yet. There’s a great deal of swelling and that can sometimes hide any damage. We can’t be too precise just yet.”

Newcastle full-back Peter Ramage could also be doubtful for the Boro game, having been replaced by Celestine Babayaro at half-time, shortly after being caught out as Teemu Tainio put Spurs ahead.

“Ramage was feeling his calf on one leg and his Achilles on the other leg. He had a difficult 45 minutes and that’s unfortunately where they got their breakthrough from,” observed Souness.