Stoke sweating over Owen signing
LONDON, England ● Stoke are sweating on Premier League approval on their last-gasp bid to sign Michael Owen after the striker finally agreed to join them.
The Potters will not learn whether the move will be ratified by the Premier League board until Wednesday.
It is unclear whether Stoke had provided the relevant documents for the signature of free agent Owen before or after the 4pm deadline for clubs to submitted their 25-man squad lists.
The uncertainty means the Premier League were only able to release details of those lists for 19 of their 20 clubs, with the Potters’ still pending.
It is understood Stoke would otherwise be prevented from filling Owen’s spot with another player if his move was rejected.
Clubs are able to sign free agents outside the transfer window but are only able to field them in the Premier League if they have previously registered fewer than 25 players.
The Premier League said in a statement: “The Premier League board is currently considering an application from Stoke City to register a player and, subsequently, their squad list will be confirmed at a later date.”
The rules: Each club’s 25-man squad should have a minimum of eight homegrown players who – regardless of age or nationality – spent three years (or a total of 36 months) in the youth system of a club in England or Wales before they reached the age of 21.
A club can have fewer than eight homegrown players, but this would reduce the size of their senior squad. Only 17 ‘foreign’ players are permitted.
An Under-21 player is defined as being born on or after January 1, 1991. Clubs can use an unlimited number of Under-21 players in addition to their 25-man squad.
Clubs with fewer than 25 players in their squad are still permitted to sign free agents.
Full squads: (The squad lists below do not include registered Under-21 players)
ARSENAL: Arshavin, Arteta, Cazorla, Chamakh, Santos, Diaby, Djourou, Fabianski, Gervinho, Gibbs, Giroud, Koscielny, Mannone, Mertesacker, Podolski, Ramsey, Rosicky, Sagna, Squillaci, Szczesny, Vermaelen, Walcott, Eastmond.
ASTON VILLA: Agbonlahor, Albrighton, Bannan, Bent, Clark, Delph, Dunne, El Ahmadi, Given, Guzan, Herd, Holman, Hutton, Ireland, Lichaj, Lowton, Westwood, Marshall, N’Zogbia, Petrov, Stevens, Vlaar, Warnock, Bennett, Benteke.
CHELSEA: Cech, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, Cole, Luiz, Ramires, Lampard, Torres, Mata, Moses, Mikel, Malouda, Ferreira, Marin, Turnbull, Sturridge, Cahill, Terry, Bertrand, Hilario.
EVERTON: Anichebe, Baines, Gibson, Hibbert, Jagielka, Neville, Osman, Coleman, Distin, Fellaini, Gueye, Heitinga, Howard, Jelavic, Mucha, Naismith, Pienaar, Mirallas, Oviedo.
FULHAM: Schwarzer, Somogyi, Stockdale, Etheridge, Riether, Kelly, Hughes, Hangeland, Senderos, Riise, Duff, Dejagah, Davies, Baird, Sidwell, Diarra, Ruiz, Richardson, Petric, Rodallega, Berbatov.
LIVERPOOL: Agger, Allen, Assaidi, Carragher, Coates, Cole, Doni, Downing, Gerrard, Gulacsi, Henderson, Johnson, Jones, Enrique, Kelly, Lucas, Reina, Sahin, Skrtel, Suarez.
MAN CITY: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Zabaleta, Lescott, Milner, Nasri, Dzeko, Sinclair, Kolarov, Aguero, Barry, Silva, Clichy, K Toure, Wright, Pantilimon, Tevez, Y Toure, Maicon, Garcia, Balotelli.
MAN UTD: Anderson, Bebe, Buttner, Carrick, Hernandez, Cleverley, De Gea, Evans, Evra, Ferdinand, Fletcher, Giggs, Kagawa, Lindegaard, Nani, Rafael, Rooney, Scholes, Smalling, Valencia, Van Persie, Vidic, Welbeck, Young.
NEWCASTLE: Amalfitano, Ameobi, Anita, Ba, Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Cisse, Coloccini, Elliot, Gosling, Harper, Gutierrez, Krul, Marveaux, Obertan, Perch, Simpson, R Taylor, S Taylor, Tiote, Williamson, Xisco.
NORWICH: Barnett, Bassong, E Bennett, R Bennett, Bunn, Butterfield, Fox, Garrido, Holt, Hoolahan, Howson, Jackson, Johnson, Lappin, C Martin, R Martin, Morison, Pilkington, Ruddy, Snodgrass, Surman, Tettey, Tierney, Turner, Whittaker.
QPR: Green, Diakite, Traore, Derry, Ferdinand, Hill, Park, Johnson, Cisse, Taarabt, Wright-Phillips, Mackie, Onuoha, Mbia, Nelsen, Dyer, Fabio, Ephraim, Hoilett, Murphy, Zamora, Cesar, Faurlin, Granero, Bosingwa.
READING: Church, Cummings, Gunter, Guthrie, Harte, Karacan, Le Fondre, Leigertwood, McAnuff, McCarthy, McCleary, Mariappa, Pearce, Roberts, Robson-Kanu, Shorey, Tabb, Taylor, Andersen, Federici, Gorkss, Gunnarsson, Hunt, Kebe, Pogrebnyak.
SOUTHAMPTON: Butterfield, Chaplow, Cork, K Davis, S Davis, De Ridder, Dickson, Do Prado, Fonte, Forte, Fox, Hooiveld, Lallana, Lambert, Lee, Mayuka, Puncheon, Ramirez, Richardson, Rodriguez, Schneiderlin, Seaborne, Yoshida.
STOKE: To be confirmed.
SUNDERLAND: Bardsley, Bramble, Brown, Campbell, Cattermole, Colback, Cuellar, Fletcher, Gardner, Johnson, Kilgallon, Larsson, McClean, Meyler, Mignolet, O’Shea, Rose, Saha, Sessegnon, Vaughan, Westwood.
SWANSEA: Aguestien, Britton, De Guzman, Dyer, Chico, Gower, Graham, Hernandez, Ki, Lita, Michu, Monk, Moore, Obeng, Routledge, Shechter, Tate, Taylor, Tremmel, Vorm, Williams, Rangel.
TOTTENHAM: Gomes, Cudicini, Friedel, Lloris, Kaboul, Gallas, Adebayor, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Sandro, Falque, Sigurdsson, Dempsey, Lennon, Walker, Naughton, Dawson, Dembele, Huddlestone, Parker, Livermore, Jenas, Bale, Defoe, Bentley.
WEST BROM: Brunt, Daniels, Dawson, Dorrans, El Ghanassy, Fortune, Foster, Gera, Jara, Jones, Long, McAuley, Morrison, Mulumbu, Myhill, Odemwingie, Olsson, Popov, Reid, Ridgewell, Rosenberg, Tamas, Thomas, Yacob.
WEST HAM: Benayoun, Carroll, Cole, Collins, Collison, Demel, Diame, Diarra, Henderson, Jaaskelainen, Jarvis, Maiga, McCartney, Noble, Nolan, O’Brien, O’Neil, Reid, Spence, Taylor, Tomkins, Vaz Te.
WIGAN: Al-Habsi, Alcaraz, Beausejour, Boselli, Boyce, Caldwell, Crusat, Di Santo, Figueroa, Gomez, Jones, Kone, Piscu, Maloney, McArthur, McCarthy, Pollitt, Ramis, Stam, Watson.
