REAL Madrid last night confirmed Newcastle and Manchester United's interest in Michael Owen and told the unsettled striker to decide where he wanted to play his football this season.

The Spanish giants, who have slapped an £11m price tag on the England international's head, have held informal talks with Magpies chairman Freddy Shepherd.

Shepherd has yet to make a formal bid for the former Liverpool striker, but has stressed Newcastle's desire to prise one of the country's most prolific goalscorers from the Bernabeu.

Manchester United are also interested in Owen, despite already having Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney, Alan Smith and the injured Luis Saha on their books.

Real, who recently bolstered their attacking ranks with a double swoop for Robinho and Julio Baptista, are still hoping to keep 25-year-old Owen in Madrid.

But, with the new Premiership season kicking off this weekend, the Spaniards have told Owen to make a decision over his future.

"We would be delighted if Michael decided to stay," said Real's director of communications Antonio Garcia Ferreras.

"But we also understand that, in a World Cup year, he needs to play as many minutes as possible.

"It is now up to him to decide what he wants to do. There have been offers all year for him but, at the moment, there are two Premier League clubs clearly interested in signing him.

"Newcastle are very interested in Owen. They are following him closely and are showing the most concrete interest.

"However, there are other sides showing an interest, including Manchester United."

Newcastle remains Owen's least likely destination given the club's lack of European football and their bottom-half finish last term. But Shepherd's readiness to meet Real's asking price, coupled with Manchester United's apparent reluctance to show their hand, could yet result in a shock outcome.

Ultimately, the decision will come down to Owen and, while his lowly place in the Real pecking order was underlined by his inability to force his way into the starting line-up for last weekend's friendly with ASK Trenkwalder, he has not ruled out spending another 12 months in Spain.

"Real Madrid phoned my advisers and made the point that the arrival of Robinho and Baptista made no difference to me," said Owen.

"However, they do have five strikers at the club and it is obvious that not everyone can play in every game.

"Mentally, I'm preparing for another season at Real and, if I do find myself on the bench at the start, I will be doing everything possible to force my way into the starting XI and I know I will be given a fair chance to do this."

If Owen does arrive on Tyneside, there is still a chance he could be playing in a Newcastle side that includes fellow England international Jermaine Jenas.

The midfielder might be unhappy at St James' Park, but the Magpies are adamant he will not be allowed to leave for a cut-price fee.

A range of figures were mentioned last weekend, but it is understood Newcastle will not be selling Jenas for anything less than £10m.

Tottenham, who have already made a £6m offer for the 22-year-old, are unwilling to go that high and United are not interested in a possible swap deal involving either Fredi Kanoute or Robbie Keane.

Arsenal have also been linked with Jenas, but sources in North London suggest Arsene Wenger has no more than a passing interest in the former Nottingham Forest midfielder at this stage.

By playing Jenas in Saturday's friendly with Yeading, Graeme Souness left the door open for a possible climb-down that could yet see the youngster spending at least the first half of the season on Tyneside.

Jenas is expected to travel to Ireland for this evening's hastily-arranged friendly with Bray Wanderers and he will be joined by full-back Francesco Coco.

The Italian is close to completing a season-long loan from Inter Milan after impressing in the opening hour of Saturday's 5-0 win.

Coco's arrival has placed a huge question mark over the future of Celestine Babayaro - Celtic were yesterday linked with the injury-plagued left-back - and has been welcomed by midfielder Emre.

The Turkey international played alongside Coco at the San Siro and is confident he will be an important addition to the Newcastle squad.

"I have been with Coco for three years in Milan," said Emre, who made an impressive home debut in last week's 2-1 defeat to Deportivo.

"He is a good player but he hasn't played for a couple of years. I think he will do well and he did well at the weekend."

Emre will make his Premiership debut when Newcastle travel to Arsenal on Sunday and the 24-year-old is hoping history repeats itself.

"I played at Arsenal two years ago in London and Inter won 3-0," he explained. "I have done it once and we will be trying everything to do the same thing again this weekend.

"I have experience of playing in these kind of games - it is not daunting for me. I have played for big clubs for nine years now - five for Galatasaray and four for Inter - and I have played against a lot of big teams. I'm not worried."

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