BELEAGURED Jean-Alain Boumsong has held crisis talks with Newcastle caretaker boss Glenn Roeder in a desperate bid to save his World Cup.

The France international defender has found himself out of the first-team picture at St James' Park after paying the price for a catalogue of gaffes.

Boumsong, signed from Glasgow Rangers by former manager Graeme Souness for £8m in 2005, has found himself the butt of jokes on Tyneside and beyond.

Matters came to a head in last month's 3-1 defeat to Liverpool when the 26-year-old was sent off for hauling down Peter Crouch after being embarrassed by the lanky Reds striker.

Though he played in the 3-1 reverse to Charlton a week later, after missing the FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Chelsea, he has not made the pitch since. He was an unused substitute in the 3-1 win over Spurs and didn't even make the squad for the 2-1 win in the Tees-Tyne derby last week - victories that have given the Magpies a faint hope of European football next season via the Uefa Cup.

A consequence of Roeder's decision to pull Boumsong out of the line of fire has been talk of him leaving the club this summer, possibly for a return to Ibrox.

New boss Paul Le Guen is rumoured to be a mulling over a move for the player and is believed to have already met him to discuss a possible return to Scotland.

Boumsong is known to favour a return to France but the chance to link up with a French manager at a club where he enjoyed his short spell might also suit him.

However, of more immediate concern to the player is his place in the France line-up ahead of June's World Cup.

The aforementioned Souness had tipped him to be one of the stars of the tournament in Germany, but he is in serious danger of missing out if he cannot get back into the Newcastle team in the remaining five games of the Premiership calendar.

It is with that in mind that he arranged to meet with the stand-in boss.

"He came to have a chat with me this week on his own without me asking to see him," revealed Roeder. "His attitude in the conversation was absolutely outstanding.

"Players in his position I've known many times to rear up and become angry but he wasn't. He came in and had a very sensible, serious chat with me.

"I said to him afterwards, it would be a lot easier being a manager if all players had his character.

"It goes without saying that with five games to go one of his concerns is the World Cup, as with Craig Moore. Craig needs to stay in the team and prove his fitness so that Guus Hiddink picks him for the Australia squad.

"Boumsong's been a regular in the French team for a while now and doesn't want to jeopardise the possibility of him being at the World Cup. That's understandable."

Boumsong is in the squad for today's visit of Wigan Athletic, but it would be a surprise if he was able to displace the current pairing of Titus Bramble and Moore at the heart of the defence.

"The way he came in and delivered what he had to say, it was fantastic. I applaud him for that because a lot of players haven't got the intelligence and self-control he showed," Roeder said.

"I think he wanted reassuring that I haven't lost faith in him.

"I could give him that reassurance because I wouldn't have a problem with putting him back in the team.

"I didn't need reminding there's a World Cup and he wants to be part of the French squad. That was the crux of the meeting."

Despite the rumours, Roeder said there had been no talk of Boumsong, 18 months into a five-and-a-half-year deal, quitting the club early.

"We never touched on him leaving," said Roeder.

"I'm assuming, as it stands now, he's more than happy to stay here and that includes next year. He didn't reveal any intentions that what has happened over the last few weeks would mean that he wants to leave the club."

Meanwhile, Roeder said Michael Owen could play in a practice game next week, in the hope that the injury-blighted striker might turn out for the Magpies before the end of the season.

The 26-year-old, who has been out of action since breaking a bone in his foot against Tottenham in December, had feared his hopes of recovering in time to be included in the England squad for Germany had been dashed when he was told he needed another operation.

However, his return to fitness looks on course, with Roeder saying everything looked "straightforward" after training in football boots for the first time since going under the knife.

"It would be a huge shock if Michael suffered a reaction, Derek Wright (club physio) said he was happy with what he did in training. There's no reason to suspect it will be anything other than straightforward now," said Roeder.

"That was the first time he'd put his boots on, did some running in them and then did a little bit of ball work. Because he's naturally fit and he's kept a good bank of fitness all the way through this injury it won't really take him that long to get playing again as long as nothing happens.

"We'll put on a practice game first for him to make sure he's comfortable running around in an XI v XI situation. We'd be silly to push him straight out, he wouldn't be capable.

"It would be poor management if we didn't do that first."

Roeder said he understood it wasn't just Newcastle that were keen to know the latest on Owen.

"I try not to put a date on things because if he doesn't make that then it's a massive panic," he said. "It's not just English fans who are interested in Owen, it's the rest of the world.