The Guardian:
Sir Alex Ferguson has been given the go-ahead to sign Michael Owen after the England striker bowed to the inevitable and accepted he has no future at Real Madrid.
The scramble to bring him back to the Premiership will revolve around United, Arsenal and the 25-year-old's former club, Liverpool, though Old Trafford increasingly appears the most viable destination. There is support within the Merseysiders' boardroom to bring Owen back to Anfield, though the European champions lack the funds to sign him permanently and would only consider moving for him on a long-term loan basis.
However, the Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger last night appeared to distance himself from the player when he told Sky: "We have not made a bid. At the moment I am not looking for a striker, but other areas I am looking at."
United's budget will not stretch to cover both Owen's and Ballack's signings, though the German is out of contract next summer and United may opt to wait until he is a free agent before signing him.
For Owen, the need to play regularly is paramount with next year's World Cup finals in mind. The prospect of becoming a virtually permanent substitute behind Ronaldo, Robinho, Baptista and Raul would prove intolerable, with Owen having accepted the time has come for him to move on in search of regular first-team football.
The Independent:
Michael Owen will learn this week whether Manchester United are prepared to rescue him from Real Madrid, who now regard the England international as their fifth-choice striker, yet have still not formally told the 25-year-old that he will be allowed to leave this month.
Despite reports that sources at Real have said that Owen is surplus to requirements, his agents SFX have not been told that they are permitted to find a new club for their client. It leaves Owen in a difficult position at Real, with last week's signing of Robinho, in addition to the purchase of Seville's Julio Baptista, a clear threat to his status within the team.
United have enquired about Owen's availability once before, in the months before they signed Louis Saha from Fulham in January 2004, and were told by Liverpool at the time that he was not for sale. Although received wisdom suggests that United are already blessed with strikers, Saha is rated as expendable and there are doubts over whether Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will ever regain the form he enjoyed before his knee injury.
Sir Alex Ferguson, who returned from Japan yesterday with his squad, is known to admire Owen and tried to sign him as a schoolboy player before he joined Liverpool and attended the Football Association's now defunct centre of excellence at Lilleshall. Owen's camp are hopeful of an indication from United that they would be interested in the player this week, but a source close to them said that the possibility of a bid was "60-40" against Old Trafford making a move.
The Telegraph:
Sir Alex Ferguson has been told that Manchester United still have the financial muscle to attract the likes of Michael Owen to the club.
However, if Owen is to be sold, Madrid would want considerably more than the £8 million they paid Liverpool a year ago. Before Real's coach, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, spent £40 million on Julio Baptista from Seville and Robinho from Santos, Owen was said to be depressed at returning to a club where, despite 13 goals in 20 starts, he was not considered a regular. Now, in a World Cup season, he finds himself Real's fifth-choice striker.
United are not Owen's only option - Arsenal and Chelsea will also be interested. There would also be problems in the fact that United do not usually play in Owen's favoured 4-4-2 formation. Also, in the Champions League, Ruud van Nistelrooy and not Wayne Rooney is their central figure.
But Gill, reflecting on the conclusion of the club's Far East tour, said they were in better shape than many believe given the £265 million of debt produced by the Glazer takeover.
"Obviously in a head-to-head fight with Chelsea they will outbid us," Gill said. "What we do have to demonstrate is that there are other attractions in coming to United - great training facilities and the history and heritage of the club, plus the ability to be with great players. We attracted Rooney last summer; he only wanted to play for us. We shouldn't get paranoid about it. We can still: a) afford a lot of money on players; and b) develop our own."