Owen Can Play A Part

Sir Alex Ferguson hopes to be able to call on the services of Michael Owen in the coming few weeks, insisting the 32-year-old can still make a vital contribution to the Reds’ championship challenge.

The striker has been out of action for nearly five months after sustaining a nasty thigh injury in the Champions League win over Otelul Galati at Old Trafford in November.

It has been a long road back for Owen with Sir Alex revealing that he tried, unsuccessfully, to make a full return to training earlier this month. But after further treatment, the forward is now on course to re-join his team-mates this week.

“He’s certainly making good progress,” confirmed Sir Alex at his press conference on Friday. “What happened was he came back into our training a couple of weeks ago and then after one of the sessions he did some physical work with the sports science team and overdid it. So it knocked him back a few days, but he should be joining us this week.

“If you think about ever needing a player to score an important goal for you is there anyone better than Michael Owen? He will be a really welcome addition to our squad, even if it were to be for the last few games of the season.”