Article By: AFP , Bangkok Post Published: 4/07/2009

Michael Owen has joined English champions Manchester United on a two-year contract, the club announced here on Friday, in a remarkable turnaround for the injury-prone striker.

England forward Owen, 29, a free agent after his Newcastle contract expired last week, underwent a medical at a Manchester hospital on Friday before returning to United's Carrington training ground to complete the shock deal.

The move came after the only clubs interested in signing the former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker appeared to be Stoke and Hull - both teams for whom staying in the Premier League is an achievement in itself.

Owen underwent an examination Thursday on the knee injury which sidelined him for much of his time at Newcastle.

Britain's newspapers Saturday could not decide if Owen's surprise move represented another canny swoop by Sir Alex Ferguson -- or a waste of money on an injury-prone player.
"He simply cannot sustain a run of games," the Daily Mail said. "He plays, he gets injured, as an ankle heals, a groin muscle rips. When he returns, a knee ligament goes."

But the Guardian hailed the signing of a "proven poacher" which Old Trafford had lacked since the days of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The paper also highlighted Ferguson's history of gambling on players such as Eric Cantona -- who ended up becoming an Old Trafford legend -- and Laurent Blanc.