It is no secret Mike Ashley tried to sell Michael Owen on the last day of the transfer window ... after Kevin Keegan had insisted he wanted the striker to stay.

But a lot of water has travelled under the Tyne Bridge since then.

Owen has refused to talk about a new contract ... and Ashley insists he never offered him one in the first place!

A club with no manager, an owner who cannot wait to jump ship, and suddenly rumours surface that Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari is lining up a £4m bid.

If you were Owen what would YOU do?

According to The Sun ... who (how shall we put it?) have known to have been wrong in the past ... claim Scolari is keen to recruit a top-class striker as cover for Didier Drogba, who has just returned from a calf injury, and Nicolas Anelka.

Owen, who earns £108,000 a week at St James' Park, failed to put pen to paper on a new deal at the start of the season, and the injury-plagued 28-year-old seems set on leaving St James' Park sooner rather than later.

This is Owen's fourth season on Tyneside and he has only made 50 appearances since his £16m switch from Real Madrid.

The England international is free to talk to clubs in January.