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Owen and Stoke wait on league approval

Tony Pulis will wait to find out if Stoke's Premier League squad registration has been approved © Getty Images

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• News: Stoke delay naming squad as they wait on Owen
  
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Michael Owen faces an anxious wait to discover if the Premier League will sanction his move to Stoke City.

Owen agreed a one-year pay-as-you-play contract with Stoke on Tuesday just prior to the Premier League deadline for clubs to submit their 25-man squads for the first half of the season.

However, as Owen was signed after the August 31 transfer deadline, the move will prove a test of the rules brought in two years ago partly to ensure clubs do not build up a huge number of senior professionals.

A Premier League club can only register a free agent, which Owen is, if they have an unused place within their 25-man squad. More importantly, it is against the regulations to leave a space open for a free agent if a club has 25 or more senior professionals registered.

Although boss Tony Pulis moved on Jonathan Woodgate, Ricardo Fuller and Salif Diao over the summer, he also brought in Michael Kightly, Steven Nzonzi, Maurice Edu, Charlie Adam and Geoff Cameron as players aged over 21.

The only way Stoke had any chance of registering Owen after the transfer deadline was to bring him in before Tuesday's registration cut-off point, and name him in their 25-man squad.

But the Premier League could now decide that Stoke have tried to circumnavigate the transfer window and the squad system to register Owen and leave one of their other contracted players out in the cold. Anyone not named in the 25-man squad will only be able to play in the League Cup for the remainder of the year.

It is not possible to send a player out on a short-term loan to create a squad place. The Premier League board is now set to meet to discuss the situation and decide if Owen should be allowed to play for Stoke.

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