Owen to visit American specialist

England striker Michael Owen will jet out to America on Monday to see top specialist Richard Steadman about his knee injury.

The 26-year-old and Newcastle's club doctor Roddy McDonald will head for Dr Steadman's Colorado clinic, where he will undergo surgery to repair his ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, and will spend up to a fortnight in the United States before returning home to start his rehabilitation.

Owen told the club's official website, www.nufc.co.uk: "It's just coming up to a couple of weeks now since I did it, and at the minute it is just dead time really while I'm waiting to have the operation.

"As soon as we get the operation out of the way, we will be looking forward to a fixed date or a fixed time to come back. The last few days has just been trying to get the swelling down and trying to get the knee as healthy as possible so we can get it operated on."