Peter Coates, current owner of Stoke City Football Club, will continue to negotiate with Michael Owen over a potential transfer to Stoke City, remaining insistent that a deal to sign the former England striker is not dead.
Michael Owen appeared to have dented his chances of a switch in the Premier League to the Britannia Stadium when his wage demands were revealed to be around 70,000 a week.
Stoke Chairman Coates, after holding negotiations with Owen’s advisors around ten days ago, insists that the two parties remain “a million miles away” from a fitting conclusion to the transfer bid for the striker since leaving Manchester United at the end of last season.
However, with all the complications that may have happened, Coates is willing to wait until the end of the transfer window to see if the lack of clubs willing to meet Owen’s demands will bring about a “reality check” for the striker.
Everton, Fulham, and Stoke have all expressed an interest, and Owen has made it clear that he has no intention of reducing himself to playing the Football League Championship (second division of English football), despite a host of offers.
Stoke City are willing to hand him a 12 month pay-as-you-play contract, with an incentive for a further 12 months. However, Owen, since joining Newcastle from Real Madrid in 2005, has been plagued with a plethora of injuries, with immense hamstring-related injuries effectively putting him out of the pitch for the past two years, during his years at Manchester United.
Stoke City are definitely aware of the fact that the 2001 Ballon D’Or (Best Footballer in Europe) winner just isn’t the same player anymore. A striker once acclaimed for his ‘Midas Touch’ as a striker simply lost his form after a big-move transfer to Real Madrid from Liverpool, a club he has primarily been associated with in his footballing career. Stoke have been targeting Michael Owen as a player who can effectively put them on track for remaining in the Premier League, after having been promoted in 2008.
After having been disappointingly deemed the lowest scorers in the 2011-12 Premier League Season, manager Tony Pulis and chairman Peter Coates hope that securing Owen and having him play as a foil to Peter Crouch as an ‘impact player’ can keep Stoke in the Premier League, and maybe have them expect more.
Michael Owen receiving the Ballon D’Or Award in 2001.