United taking the Michael

TEAMtalk reflects on Manchester United's signing of Michael Owen - and believes few signings will raise as many eyebrows this summer.

Few new signings have been received with such suspicion and such trepidation.

Michael Owen's arrival at Old Trafford may be unfortunate timing, or it may simply be Sir Alex Ferguson indulging in a spot of bargain-hunting, but for many Manchester United fans these are worrying times.

Any manager would have struggled to fill the gaps left by the departures of Cristiano Ronaldo, the best footballer in the world bar none, and the irrepressible Carlos Tevez.

Ferguson's first move in the transfer market, for Wigan's Antonio Valencia is understandable: here is a fast, powerful winger with Premier League experience, even if he is not close to being in the same league as Ronaldo.

Yet the United manager's next move, for Owen, is nothing less than baffling. There is one reason the 29-year-old is available on a free transfer: virtually nobody else wants him, and for United to have beaten mighty Hull to his signature is no cause to break open the bubbly.

This is the player former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd said he would "carry back to Liverpool", such was Owen's lack of impact in the north-east.

Maybe Ferguson believes that once a great goalscorer - as Owen undoubtedly was - always a great goalscorer, and that the free transfer makes this a gamble worth taking, with the £80million fee for Ronaldo being left to bring in other top names.

The suspicion and fear of many fans though is that the pursuit of Owen hides a more sinister development: that the Glazer family who own the club are severely limiting spending in order to service the payments on their huge debt, now standing at a staggering £649.4million.

Red Football, the parent company of United and its various offshoots, returned a loss of £44.8million last year - the year they won the Champions League - and have annual interest payments of £69million.

Put it another way, those losses plus Valencia's transfer fee come to £60million. That only leaves £20million from Ronaldo's sale remaining, and the Glazers will be mindful of the fact that there will be no such mega sale next year.

It is possible that Owen may do a job for United, perhaps as a fourth-choice striker filling in for absentees, and he would no doubt settle for that in return for being at a top club with a healthy pay cheque.

But if Ferguson truly believes he can relight the fire in Owen's belly and rejuvenate a man who became tired and old before his time then maybe the old maestro is losing his touch.

This is not a similar masterstroke to the one Ferguson pulled off in 2007 when he snapped up Henrik Larsson, for he was in wonderful shape, had not long finished playing for Barcelona and is still playing international football for Sweden.

Owen's pace has been deserting him year by year, injury by injury, and his confidence and sharpness have suffered.

He has continued to stutter on at Newcastle, but at international level Fabio Capello has made it clear he does not fancy him.

Perhaps the most troubling issue ahead for United will relate to Wayne Rooney, who given his struggles in the past to form an effective partnership with Owen for England is unlikely to be popping the champagne corks.

Rooney did not score a competitive goal for England from June 2004 until October 2007, Owen's penultimate competitive international fixture. By contrast, in this current World Cup qualifying campaign Rooney has scored nine goals in eight games.

Owen barely figured on the scoresheet when Rooney was playing either and his last three competitive England goals all came when Rooney was unavailable.

Both players have looked far more comfortable alongside a partner such as Emile Heskey - a striker whom it would have been far more sensible for Ferguson to buy from the bargain basement.

Fergie will no doubt relish the chance to prove his doubters wrong, and he may yet do that, but what is much more important is whether Owen's signing signals the start of a new era of austerity at United.