Await Rescue

Everyone's taken a deep breath and calmed down about the Michael Owen transfer today. Almost everyone anyway (even James Lawton's managed a calm assessment). Des Kelly is the exception:

This was the summer in which all the talk at Old Trafford was of the mega-deals that would fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo's departure.

Remember how every newspaper compiled glamorous hit-lists of stars beating a path to Old Trafford? Remember the transfer chatter about players performing at the peak of their powers like Karim Benzema, Franck Ribery and David Villa?

Well, it was hot air, the lot of it.

All United have to show for £80million worth of pre-season prattle is an overpriced winger from Wigan Athletic that they could have picked up at any time over the past year and an eternally crocked striker, who has been subject to more doctors' scrutiny than Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient.

Yes, this is the summer in which the transfer window has been open for a full 3 days... come back when it closes. After calling Valencia overpriced he goes on to imply we're tight for not thinking Tevez was worth the money. Great analysis.
Everyone seems to have realised the actual status of the transfer, best summed up by Paul Doyle on The Guardian blog:

The ballyhoo ignited by Michael Owen's proposed move to Manchester United is – surely – out of proportion to the relatively minor importance of the player in the club's plans. It is impossible to imagine he is seen as a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo or Carlos Tevez, or compensation for missing out on Karim Benzema. It is much more probable that this freebie who will reportedly be offered a pay-as-you-play deal will serve as a cut-price successor to, say, Alan Smith or latter-day Louis Saha or, in the best-case scenario, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. In other words, United should still be expected to make far more significant signings this summer. ... Owen's role at United will ... be to spring off the bench on occasions when United are creating chances but failing to convert them.

James Lawton's piece points out that even at Newcastle Owen wasn't that bad:

While raddled by injury, and increasing evidence that Newcastle were hopeless, Owen did manage to score 30 goals in 65 games. It wasn't nearly enough to impress the England manager, Fabio Capello – but nor did it rule out the possibility that in the right set-up, with a minimum of encouragement, he might still be able to make a significant impact.

And I saw on Sky Sports News that Michael Owen converted 29% of his chances last season, the best in the Premiership.
Martin Samuel is fully in the good move camp

For everybody, this is a move that works. For Michael Owen, for Sir Alex Ferguson, for Fabio Capello, for Wayne Rooney, for Manchester United, for England. There is no loser here because it is a gamble that the club can well afford.

And while a player such as Karim Benzema has more potential than a 29-year-old with a recent history of injury problems (and who no longer holds down a place in an international squad that finds room for Carlton Cole), most foreign players take a season to acclimatise to English football.

Ferguson has no time for that. He needs a man who will hit the ground running, which Owen will, if fit. Even if he scores at the rate of his previous two seasons with Newcastle United, which have been dismissed as failures, he will be a vast improvement on the departing favourite, Carlos Tevez.

Owen scored 23 goals in 62 games in a poor Newcastle team, at a ratio of one every 2.69 games. Tevez scored 34 in 99 games in a magnificent Manchester United team, a rate of 2.97. Last season, his ratio was 3.4.

Patrick Barclay puts it plain and simple:

Owen could be an exciting option on the bench. I doubt if even Ferguson, with Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov to accommodate, envisages much more than that.

Something which Kevin McCarra agrees with:

It may be that Owen can help United win the run-of-mill matches more easily, so allowing his team-mates to conserve energy for key fixtures in a long campaign. When he was functioning normally, the attacker scored four times in his five appearances during the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Assuming he stays fit, it will be interesting to see the extent to which he is used by Ferguson. ... he will probably flourish only against weaker clubs when United, as they dominate, get many players forward to support him.

In the tense and tactical contests he could, like Solskjaer, be a specialist substitute who can winkle out a goal. That may be a step down for someone so renowned in his youth but it would constitute a renaissance after four years of decline at Newcastle.

The Mirror have a bizarre article which tells us what Fabio Capello thinks about it which has no quotes from anyone at all, they've just guessed what he thinks and made a long article about it.
One of the worst aspects of the transfer is demonstrated in The Daily Star - ex-Liverpool players being asked for comments about us... Ian Rush gets a little dig in:

“He’ll get chances for Manchester United and will score goals.

“I’d like to have seen him at Liverpool but they haven’t lost their best strikers. Rafa Benitez will be happy with what he’s got.”

Neither have we... as Mickey Thomas points out in the same article:

“I honestly think he will be more of a threat than Carlos Tevez was. Tevez was an industrious player for United but he was never going to get you goals.

“Owen is much more productive. If you had those two to choose from – and I know Tevez was a crowd favourite – I’d pick Owen in goalscoring terms.

I was going to cite all the figures which are being speculated on regarding his wages. But it seems a little pointless - bottom figure is £20,000 - top figure is £50,000, with everyone agreeing the performance related part is where the real cash is.
Quotes. Sir Alex:

"Michael is a world-class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level and that has never been in question. Coming to Manchester United with the expectations that we have is something that Michael will relish."

Owen:

Owen said: “I had just begun to talk to other clubs when out of the blue Sir Alex phoned me on Wednesday afternoon and invited me to have breakfast with him the next morning during which he told me that he wanted to sign me.

“I agreed without a moment’s thought.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I intend to seize it with both hands.

“I am looking forward to being a United player and I am fortunate that I already know so many of the players here.

‘I missed pre-season last year and am pleased that I will be starting at Carrington from day one.

“I want to thank Sir Alex for the faith he has shown in me and I give him my assurance that I will repay him with my goals and performances.”

And on the lukewarm reaction to his signing and the injuries:

Owen said: 'I know there will be people out there saying maybe the manager shouldn't have signed me. But when the first game kicks off I can do my talking on the pitch and I want to start with a bang.

'A lot has been made out of my fitness but I certainly do not think I'm injury-prone. I'm 29 and have played over 500 games at the highest levels for clubs and at international level so I can't have been on the treatment table all the time.

One other story, from The Mirror - Rooney bangs head, is okay.