Michael Owen to United: Deal or No Deal??

The Biggest shock of the summer so far struck last week as in the space of 48hrs Michael Owen went from pondering moves to Stoke, Hull or Fulham to suddenly having the opportunity of playing Champions League football again with the Premiership Champions.

Unless you've been suffering from sunstroke since last Thursday you will now know that Michael Owen is a Manchester United player. I have to admit to not quite believing it myself yet as I look at pictures of that face that terrorised us for so long playing for the other reds just down the East Lancashire Road.

The question being asked across Britain and Europe is now this; is Fergie a genius or an idealistic fool? The answer is quite simply neither, Sir Alex Ferguson is a gambler!!

Thats what this deal is, its the perfect gamble!! Fergie is playing with House Money, there is no transfer fee involved and Owens contract is weighed heavily with incentives and bonuses for playing and scoring.

If whispers are right then Owen has a starting base salary of £50,000 per week, with additional 10,000 playing bonus, 5,000 scoring bonus (per goal) and also bonuses where if United win trophies he will be back paid a bonus worth anoth X amount of pounds per week.

Thats already a massive saving on Tevez's wage demands of 120k plus and Owen scored more goals in less games then Tevez did last year. That was an injury hit campaign playing with vastly inferior players than he will be playing with at Old Trafford.

The key to this whole deal is can he stay fit? I feel a bit for Owen in this department as he has been given this "sicknote" label alongside the likes of Darren Anderton and Ledley King. This is massively unfair to Owen as he was kept out of a Real Madrid side not through injury but through not being selected. It was only at Newcastle that he truly started to have injury troubles, but look at Newcastle over the last few years and he's not the only one.

Mark Viduka, Michael Owen, Alan Shearer, Damien Duff, Lauren Robert, Albert Luque, Alan Smith, Joey Barton and more have all had injuries for a club that has a growing reputation for below par training facilities.

But back to Owen, I know because I saw it with my own eyes that after his medical at Old Trafford he was whisked to a medical facility close to Old Trafford. There were scans, probes, x-rays and tests galore done on his legs, knees, ankles and whatever else they felt like and he passed them all with flying colours.

His record in a Newscastle shirt is 30 goals in 76 games, now thats been spread over 4 years as a part of the Toon Army due to his injuries. Now knowing that he is currently fully fit and healthy, and presuming thats Uniteds facilities and coaches will look after him better than Newcastle did he could well play 76 games in 2/3 years for United and if his scoring record remains similar we could reasonably expect 10+ goals a season.

Now thats looking at stats and figures on paper, and we all know that football isn't played on paper!

However lets take in the X-factors of this deal shall we? Firstly look a the grin on Owens face as he was photographed coming out of the medical facility and passing all his tests, it was the smile of a man who knew he had just been given one last shot at superstardom. The incentives are all his, play well and score goals and there's a little tournament at the end of next season called THE WORLD CUP. What better way to try and persuade Fabio Capello that he's worth a seat on the plane to South Africa than to ply his trade against top opposition every week for United.

With no dis-respect to the likes of Stoke and Hull, there was only going to be one choice once United entered the picture.

Next we have Owens other history outside of injuries, his goal-scoring history. Owen has not been at a Club where he has not scored goals, see below as evidence;

Liverpool: 216 Appearances, 118 Goals - Thats a goal every 1.8 games
Real Madrid: 35 Appearances, 13 Goals - Thats a goal every 2.6 games
Newcastle: 76 Appearances, 30 Goals - Thats a goal every 2.5 games

Thats not even taking into account his 40 goals for England compiled in 89 games, at a rate of 2.2 games per goal. This man is a goalscorer and is not going to be relied on to be our main source of goals, he's going to play a few games here and there and be an impact sub for the rest of the time so this isn't a win or bust situation for anyone involved.

Owens main problem is that he is going to have to get off to a good start, he's a Liverpool lad and if he doesn't perform the mindless numbskulls in the crowd will not let him forget that he played for our sworn enemy, but because he will be in and out of the team he should be able to silence the idiots.

The last X-factor is not Owen related but Fergie, as he has got previous on this type of signing! Those Old Trafford die-hards will remember back in 1992/93 when we had signed Dion Dublin and he was scoring goals happily, then tragically he had his leg brken by a horrible challenge from Eric Young of Crystal Palace.....Fergie needed a replacement quick to contribute to a title push and he made a bargain basement signing from Leeds, a temperamental Frenchman by the name of Eric Daniel Pierre CANTONA......the rest, as they say, is history.

In the 1998 off-season United had struggled the year before and were easily beaten to the title by a fantastic Overmars inspired Arsenal side. Fergie felt he needed an intelligent in the hole player to compliment the pace and poaching ability of Yorke, Cole and Solskjaer. There were many big names being banded about but Fergie turned to a 3.5 million, 30yr old Teddy Sheringham.

Now take note that in those two cases it started a chain of events that shaped the club we see today, Cantona is a folk hero the like of which hadn't been seen since Best, Law and Charlton. Teddy Sheringham was the cog that drove the forward machine of 1999 which saw United have the most historic season in English football history.

There are more as well, the likes of Schmeichel, Solskjaer, Keane were all considered risky and all went onto iconic status.

I'm also not so blinded by the fact that there have been some (Poborsky, Taibi, Forlan) that have not worked out, hence the reason that even though it is relatively risk free, Owens signing is still a gamble but then again isn't every signing??

Nothing is guaranteed in football, even Ronaldo could spectacularly flop at Madrid! But what Fergie has done is made sure that he has covered his squad with enough quality strikers (and there WILL be another arrival shortly) to cope with the rigours of a long campaign. And whats more he's done it at a saving for the club as well....

Come on Noel ask me the question, Deal or No Deal.......its a no Brainer, DEAL!!