Newcastle United are considering upping the ante in their demand for compensation to cover Michael Owen's knee injury, with a messy court battle against Fifa and the English Football Association.
Negotiations involving the club, the Premier League and the governing bodies have taken place in Zurich, but Newcastle are expected to reject what the Fifa president Sepp Blatter described as their "final offer".
The striker has not featured this season after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament during England's World Cup group game against Sweden in June. Newcastle have since paid him £3.5 million in salary, a sum that the FA's insurance policy has failed to cover.
That is capped at £55,000 per week, and though it is understood that Newcastle have their own indemnity, the club consider themselves to have been left significantly out of pocket.
The discussions, which G14 chairman David Dein helped initiate last September, became public after Blatter commented on the issue yesterday.
Blatter revealed that the "final offer" to Newcastle for Owen's injury amounted to 2.2 million Swiss francs (£960,000), a figure that the Fifa president concedes falls considerably short of the £6 million to £7 million the Premiership club are demanding. The offered sum is the highest award allowable under the Fifa scheme.
Blatter claims the fund was set up in principle to cover for injuries to players whose national associations - such as Angola and the Ivory Coast - would not have been able to afford to pay the wages of players injured while on World Cup duty and is dismayed at the Tyneside club's attitude.
"Newcastle have asked for £6 million or £7 million because they are saying he has not played for six months, we have to replace him, he didn't score for us, etc," said Blatter. "This is not fair on all the players who are injured.
"We have made our final offer together with the representative of the (Premier) League and a representative of the FA and our general secretary, and we have agreed that if everyone gives a bit more - one third each - for us a deal is done. If anyone has a responsibility (to pay more), it is the FA whose player is injured."
Newcastle would say only that they had "noted Mr Blatter's comments" yesterday but would not comment on "an ongoing matter". However, there is understood to be intense anger at the regulatory bodies' stance and that could well boil over into a battle in the courts.
"If you look at the list of those who have asked for money, something is wrong," said Blatter. "I say that the Premiership is the richest league in the world, and it is, but one claimant was Michael Owen, who played for only two minutes on June 20th and was injured on entering the field of play.
"There is more than one England player and it has been more from them than from those who need the money. The FA has been unable to convince Newcastle that Fifa's offer is a good deal."
Guardian Service
