Owen To Be 'Unleashed'

"What Michael wants to do is just stay fit and play games of football and enjoy his football again for as long as he possibly can, both with Newcastle United and with England, and try to help us be successful and try to get to a position where, when we select him on a week-to-week basis, he produces the goals we know he can.

"If we do that, then we are going to be a very, very good side throughout this year in the Premier League.

"He is a very quiet man and a very determined young man who commits himself to his rehabilitation to get fit as quickly as he possibly can.

"Now he can extend that into his rehabilitation work on a regular basis, which he will do, to make sure he stays fit, hopefully, and rekindle his obvious talent for scoring goals and playing football.

"You have got a much happier player when that happens, when he will hopefully put all fears behind him in the next few weeks, because in his mind, slightly, there will always be the doubt of 'am I going to get injured again'?

"The longer he goes without an injury, the more confidence he gets and the better and more we can get out of him."