Liverpool chairman David Moores has instructed his chief executive to do all he can to bring Michael Owen back to Anfield.
Mr Moores along with Parry and Rafa held a mini-conference recently to discuss whether or not the Real Madrid player was someone who the manager would like to have in his squad and the Spanish boss admitted that the signing would be "beneficial".
A senior Anfield source was pushed for more info last night and he revealed that a number of telephone calls were made to Madrid yesterday.
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He told us: "Yes, David has spoken to Michael and his father several times this summer. There is a lot of mutual respect there. He hasn't spoken to Michael this week but Rick made a number of calls to Madrid today.
"Ideally we'd like to include Milan (Baros) in a deal but that is unlikely to interest the player who would prefer a move to Barcelona where he would have more opportunities. Everton have so far failed to agree a fee for him and unless a buyer can be found, this could prove a problem.
"Everything is down to Real Madrid. Liverpool want Owen and Owen wants Liverpool but unless his current club accept one of the options that we can offer them, nothing will happen at all."
Asked if Rafa was an Owen fan, he added: "Well he says he is. I think any uncertainty that may have previously been there related to Owen's decision to walk out on the club. However club officials have convinced Rafa that Owen isn't a typical prima donna and that there were no hard feelings when he left us.
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"If Rafa didn't want Owen, the board would accept his decision but we are entitled to voice our opinions when world clbutt talent becomes available but there's never any pressure applied on the manager to sign anyone he doesn't want. Rafael Benitez is the manager and we'll do what we can to meet his requests."
from Koptalk:
A newspaper report on Merseyside today claims that Liverpool are not holding talks with former Reds striker Michael Owen.
Nobody at the club has gone on record to back that up though and the same report claims the manager "could be ready to rebuttess his attacking options" with one striker loaned out (Le Tallec), another set to leave (Baros) and another (Crouch) injured and suspended for the start of the new campaign.
We don't know whether the club are still talking to Owen or not. We'd probably say 'no' if someone asked our opinion simply because there's nothing else to talk about. If anyone is doing any talking, it's going to be Rick Parry and his Real Madrid counterpart as they try to negotiate a deal.
Let's cut to the chase.... Real Madrid will decide Owen's fate when they're ready. If Liverpool agree to their demands then Michael Owen will become a Red, if we don't, he'll either rot away on the bench in Madrid or he'll end up at another Premiership club and that's likely to be Manchester United if he's left with no other options.
