Toon’s Owen wage shock

Jun 28 2009 by Neil Farrington, Sunday Sun

NEWCASTLE face having to pay Michael Owen an extra month in wages – more than £400,000 – if he fails to find a new club within the next few weeks.

Owen becomes a free agent on Tuesday, and has confirmed he is moving on after four torrid years on Tyneside.

But the news which will amaze and anger Geordie fans is that Premier League employment rules leave United duty bound to cover Owen’s salary for another month if he does not sign for someone else in July.

The same severance-style payment would be due in the same circumstances to other players whose contracts are about to expire, like Mark Viduka and Cacapa.

With Owen alone on around £105,000 a week, newly-relegated Newcastle could ill afford the extra expense caused if he decides to bide his time on deciding his next destination.

l AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has revealed he has talked to Arsenal about the possibility of signing Emmanuel Adebayor.

The Rossoneri’s first choice remains Wolfsburg star Edin Dzeko, but with the Bundesliga club remaining firm that he is not for sale, Milan are starting to look at alternatives.

Galliani indicated on Thursday that they might be interested in Adebayor and it now appears that the Serie A side have stepped up their interest in the Togo international.

“We don’t have any agreement with Dzeko,” said Galliani. “He is a Wolfsburg player.

“Dzeko has expressed his liking for a move here but at this moment there are no negotiations yet. We wrote to Wolfsburg and they responded that he is not for sale.”