Veteran striker Michael Owen joins Stoke City on free transfer from Manchester United

Firstly, Stoke have to show the Owen was a free agent and was not contracted to any other club for his move outside of the transfer window to be approved, which should be no problem as Manchester United released him earlier in the summer. 



The second issue Stoke manager Tony Pulis has to overcome is that all Premier League squads had to be submitted by 4pm on Tuesday and it is currently unclear as to whether the midlands side met this obligation. 



Should all go to plan, Owen would have secured his wish to sign for a premier league  club – he had spoken of how he wanted to remain playing in the top league and did not want to drop down divisions – and would be Stoke’s ninth signing of the summer alongside fellow new striker, and former Liverpool man, Charlie Adam. 



Stoke currently sit 12thin the table having taken three points from their opening three games. 



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