All of a sudden the unwanted Michael Owen seems to be in demand again, Manchester-based journalists being convinced that he’s to have a medical at Old Trafford this week with a view to hooking up with Sir Alex Ferguson.
Fergie, of course, is short of a forward or two with Cristiano Ronaldo off to Real Madrid and Carlos Tevez to Manchester City (we think, but somewhere else anyway). All the likely big-name foreign replacements like Karim Benzema of Lyon seem to fancy, or be fancied by, big-spending Real Madrid.
So Owen, who still managed to score 30 goals in his 79 widely-spaced appearances for Newcastle, might fit the bill nicely.
But there’s another north west manager who’s short of a striker or two and that’s Rafa Benitez at Liverpool, Owen’s alma mater of course.
Benitez has the peerless Fernando Torres but, since he unloaded Robbie Keane in a hurry, not much else. And Owen, who’s not dissimilar to Torres but could also play alongside him is available on a free transfer (apart from his mega wages of course).
And just a week ago Owen’s options looked like Hull or Stoke.
Funny old game.