Newcastle United Football Club News

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

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

Owen return on track

23 Mar 2007 - 14:50:22

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Newcastle United strikerMichael Owen is confident that his recuperation is on schedule and has targeted a return to full training next month.

The 27-year-old former Liverpool and Real Madrid star has not played since suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury in the opening minutes of England's draw with Sweden in last summer's World Cup finals in Germany.

"I'm sprinting in straight lines and kicking balls as hard as I want to, so that's a great sign," Owen told Sky Sports News.

"I'm just doing all the twisting and turning at present and after another week of that hopefully I can dip in and out of training.

"I'll build into training and see how it goes from there. I'll ask the Newcastle lads not to kick me too hard to start with."

Injuries have restricted Owen to only 11 appearances for the Magpies since his transfer from Real Madrid was completed in August 2005.