Michael Owen is out of soccer for three months with a hamstring and tendon injury. A scan on his right leg has revealed far worse damage than was first feared when he limped out of Monday's Premiership match at Leeds with a recurrence of the hamstring injury that has hit him twice before this season.
Owen will miss England's next three matches - the friendly against Hungary in Budapest on April 28th and the European Championship qualifiers against Sweden and Bulgaria on June 5th and 9th.
Liverpool only discovered the real extent of Owen's injury when they received hospital reports yesterday. Their stunned manager, Gerard Houllier, said: "The scan has revealed damage to the hamstring and the tendon. It will take six weeks to recover from. And then it will take another six weeks after that to build up the strength in the leg again."
Owen said last night: "Naturally I am disappointed to be injured, but I have complete confidence in the medical team at Anfield and I know that they will have me back playing as soon as possible."
Newcastle also have injury problems. Defender Steve Howey could be out for up to eight months after rupturing his Achilles tendon during Sunday's FA Cup semi-final victory over Tottenham.
Kevin Keegan has painstakingly spelled out the reasons why he will be staying at Fulham next season as he revealed that he would miss the day-to-day involvement with players if he took on the England job full-time.
"I don't think you can ever get that same sort of feeling for England - England comes and goes; you've got 12 games a year," Keegan admitted. The most likely scenario remains that the English Football Association will allow Keegan to continue his dual role with club and country past June and into the Euro 2000 finals.
Later Fulham dismissed as "hearsay" suggestions that owner Mohamed Al Fayed is set to offer manager Kevin Keegan a new three-year contract now that he has taken the club into the First Division.
Willem Korsten has rejected a permanent transfer to Leeds despite agreeing financial terms with the club.
The Dutch midfielder was expected to sign a long-term deal with Leeds after joining the club from Vitesse Arnhem on loan until the end of the season.
But Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale said he has been left "completely mystified" by the player's about-turn although alarm bells had started to ring about the player's commitment to the club.
Leeds have suffered further disappointment with the news that Dutch defender Robert Molenaar needs a second operation on his cruciate ligament which will keep him out of action until Christmas.
Aston Villa manager John Gregory yesterday dropped a strong hint that bargain signing Colin Calderwood could get an extension to his contract.
Gregory took over the remaining 15 months of 34-year-old Calderwood's contract when signing him from Spurs just before the transfer deadline for £225,000.
The entire Scottish Premier League programme for the final day of the season has been switched to Sunday, May 23rd.
The games, which include the potential title deciders between Rangers and Kilmarnock and Dundee United and Celtic have all been set for a 6.05 p.m. kick-off.
World footballer of the year Zinedine Zidane said yesterday that Juventus's fortunes in the Champions' Cup could determine whether he decides to stay with the Serie A club.
The French World Cup star said he is happy with the "Bianconeri", but hinted that he might look elsewhere if the Turin side fail to win Europe's top club competition this season.
