Mort looks to tie up Owen deal

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Owen sent owner Mike Ashley into raptures with a double against arch-rivals Sunderland on Sunday to formally end what at one point not so very long ago had developed into a battle for Barclays Premier League survival.

Mort said: "As we have said all along, we are obviously keen for Michael to stay. He is a fabulous player and he showed that again. Now we are looking forward to sitting down with his team and working out an agreement for him to stay at Newcastle United."

The 28-year-old now has 12 goals for the season and six in his last six games, and it is no coincidence that return has come on the back of 17 consecutive starts.

Considering he managed only 14 appearances in total in his first two injury-wrecked seasons on Tyneside, manager Kevin Keegan's assertion that the fans are only now seeing him at his best is a valid one.

Keegan was convinced of Owen's ability to lead the club's fight for years to come within weeks of his return to the St James' Park, and while the player himself has so far responded diplomatically to enquiries over his future, Mort had made his own feelings public.

It was Graeme Souness who invested £17million to bring Owen back to England from Real Madrid in August 2005.

However, it is a measure of the turmoil which has engulfed St James' since that he, Glenn Roeder and Sam Allardyce all found themselves robbed of the player's services by one injury or another before Keegan took over at the helm less than two-and-a-half years later.