Newcastle United Football Club News

• Nickname:Magpies
• Founded:1881
• Manager:Alan Pardew

• Ground:St James' Park
• Capacity:52,193

New concern over Owen

23 Sep 2007 - 18:25:45

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Newcastle United striker Michael Owen will undergo a second scan in a week on his nagging groin problem, with surgery a possibility for the injury-jinxed England star.

The 27-year-old had to be replaced during the 3-1 victory over West Ham United, having also been subbed during the 1-0 defeat at Derby County last Monday.

Magpies boss Sam Allardyce confirmed: "It is still a groin problem, which we will have to look into a little deeper because it has become persistent.

"We will make a decision from there. We will probably scan it again, have another specialist opinion and then see where we go from there.

"I am worried that he asked to come off because he felt it, whereas it was me who took him off against Derby.

"So since then, even though the scan was clear, there's a persistent area which is causing him a problem. We need to look deeper into that.

"We will look after Michael Owen's interests more than anybody else's. He is our most expensive asset, so we must not go on any longer than we need to, we must address the injury straight away."

Owen had scored five goals in four games for club and country before his most recent outings, having only recently recovered fully from a long-term knee injury.