Michael Owen could become a Real Madrid player later today after Liverpool edged closer to reaching an agreement with the Spanish club over his transfer to La Liga. As talks continued with Liverpool last night concerning the England striker's proposed move, the Spanish club were still planning to unveil Patrick Vieira this morning, despite reports in Spain that the deal was on the brink of collapse.
Real are understood to have sanctioned the inclusion of the 25-year-old right-sided midfielder Antonio Nunez as a makeweight in the Owen deal. Liverpool are also expected to receive a financial settlement of around £9 million for the striker, who had 10 months to run on his contract at Anfield.
Owen will need to travel to Spain to discuss personal terms on what is likely to be a five-year contract, and will be omitted from the Merseysiders' squad due to travel to Tottenham for tomorrow's Premiership opener at White Hart Lane.
His departure to Castille is likely to provoke a sudden injection of Spanish players into Liverpool's ranks with Real Sociedad's Xabi Alonso expected to be joined by the Barcelona midfielder Luis Garcia at Anfield.
Vieira's €37.5 million move was dependent on his agreeing personal terms with Real, which would include a 25 per cent cut in his salary. Madrid's galacticos earn about £4 million a year net but Vieira is being offered a basic £3 million. The Spanish club want him to agree to performance-related bonuses that will augment his salary.
Madrid received a £7 million windfall from yesterday's £16 million sale of Real Mallorca's Samuel Eto'o to Barcelona - a player in whom they held a stake - and want to direct those funds towards securing Vieira. They would also be expected to pay the £1.25 million owed to Cannes, where Vieira began his professional career, as their prearranged sell-on fee.
The completion of the deal will relieve Arsene Wenger, who demanded a deadline of tomorrow for it to go through after the 3-1 Community Shield win over Manchester United on Sunday.
Liverpool's dip into the transfer market may remain on hold until Owen has completed the formalities of his switch to the Spanish capital. The 24-year-old's agent Tony Stephens of SFX flew to Spain to handle the negotiations over the player's terms having done the same for David Beckham a year ago. That suggests the deal, which had briefly threatened to collapse yesterday, was in fact significantly closer to completion.
Liverpool will also have been delighted at last night's suggestion that Real winger Juanfran may be made available for purchase too. Rafael Benitez had long given up on luring the 19-year-old to Anfield, believing Real were intent upon retaining his services at the Bernabeu after they rebuffed a tentative approach for the teenager from Chelsea in January.
It remains to be seen whether the under-20 international would relish a move to the Premiership but, given that Luis Figo stands in his way at Madrid, first-team opportunities at Real have long been limited.
Alonso and Garcia, a 26-year-old winger who scored 16 goals under Benitez while at Tenerife, could follow the teenager to Anfield in deals which should total £10 million and £6 million.
