Newcastle United to lose Michael Owen in January

Although the player himself has never hinted any signs that he will want to move away from St. James’ Park, but with no certain clear new contract being offered to him up until now, he may have to think quick about his future.

Owen’s present contract will end next summer, and starting from next January, he will be free to negotiate with any club who may be interested to offload him from Newcasle United, according to the Bosman rule.

Miles Starforth writes on his column at Shield Gazette today that United has already set sights on who will be Owen’s replacement in case he’s out of SJP. The Wolfsburg’s German Under-21 international striker Ashkan Dejagah is one of them.

Ashkan Dejagah (born July 5, 1986 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian-born German and he currently plays for VfL Wolfsburg as a striker. His professional debut for Wolfs is againt VfL Bochum in the opening match of 2004-2005.

Playing for the last five minutes for his only first team appearance that year, he was also becoming the youngest player to ever play for the club since it was founded in 1892. In 2004 after being called to play for Germany’s u-19 national team, Dejagah scores seven goals in 15 international games.