Michael Owen is seeking a pay-rise at Newcastle United.

The Daily Mail says Owen's current deal, worth £104,000- a-week, expires at the end of next season but his representatives have attempted to broker talks and Kevin Keegan is eager to extend his current contract.

However, Newcastle's board have suspended talks until they arrest their alarming slide towards the relegation zone and find out what division they will start next season in.

Owen wants to improve his £5million- a-year salary, despite the scale of his extraordinary contract when he moved to St James' Park in 2005 being unprecedented in the club's history.