Owen Expected to Seal Real Deal

Michael Owen is on the verge of becoming a Real Madrid player, with Liverpool having reached an agreement with the Spanish club last night over his transfer to La Liga. But while the England striker is destined for the Bernabeu, Real's move for Patrick Vieira was deadlocked over Arsenal's demand for an extra £1.25m to pay a sell-on fee due to Cannes, Vieira's first club.

Real have sanctioned the inclusion of the 25-year-old right-sided midfielder Antonio Núñez as a makeweight in the Owen deal. Liverpool are also expected to receive a financial settlement of about £9m for their England striker, who had 10 months to run on his contract at Anfield.

Owen will need to travel to Spain for a medical and to discuss personal terms on what is likely to be a five-year contract, and will be omitted from the Merseysiders' squad due to travel to Tottenham for tomorrow's Premiership opener at White Hart Lane.

His departure to Castille is likely to provoke a sudden injection of Spanish players into Liverpool's ranks, with Real Sociedad's Xabi Alonso expected to be joined by the Barcelona midfielder Luis García at Anfield.

The Vieira situation is not as clear cut. In addition to the dispute over the payment to Cannes, the Arsenal captain's €37.5m (£24.7m) move was dependent on his agreeing personal terms with Real, which would include a 25% cut in his wages. Madrid's galácticos earn about £4m a year net but Vieira is being offered a basic £3m, in line with what Roberto Carlos earns. The Spanish club want him to agree to performance-related bonuses that will augment his salary.

Madrid received a £7m windfall from yesterday's £16m sale of Real Mallorca's Samuel Eto'o to Barcelona - a player in whom they held a stake - and want to direct those funds towards securing Vieira.

The completion of the deal will relieve Arsène Wenger, who demanded a deadline of tomorrow for it to go through after the 3-1 Community Shield win over Manchester United on Sunday.

Liverpool's dip into the transfer market may remain on hold until Owen has completed the formalities of his switch to the Spanish capital. The 24-year-old's agent Tony Stephens of SFX flew to Spain to handle the negotiations over the player's terms, having done the same for David Beckham a year ago. That suggests the deal, which had briefly threatened to collapse yesterday, was in fact significantly closer to completion.

Complications in the negotiations had first surfaced on Wednesday night over the package involved and rumbled on yesterday as Eto'o, the player Real had hoped to include as part of the deal, completed his transfer to Barcelona. At one point talks between Liverpool and the Spanish were at a standstill, with Real showing no great urgency to offer cash alone for the England striker and already conscious that the Premiership club were also reluctant to take their Argentinian Santiago Solari as part of the move.

Instead, Liverpool are poised to secure the arrival of Núñez, who caught Rafael Benítez's eye when he was managing Valencia. The right-sided midfielder has been nothing more than a fringe player at the Bernabéu. Though Liverpool had hoped to lure his team-mate Juanfran, this represents a satisfactory compromise.

Alonso and García, a 26-year-old winger who scored 16 goals under Benítez while at Tenerife, could follow the teenager to England in deals which should total £10m and £6m. They will join a squad which is slowly coming to terms with Owen's imminent departure after 13 years and 158 goals at Liverpool.

"I'll be disappointed if we lose Michael, as a friend but more importantly as a footballer," said Jamie Carragher. "He has been our main goalscorer for the past six or seven years. When people around the world think of Liverpool at present, they think of Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen. But he will get a lot of pats on the back from the players here, the training staff and the supporters.

"We have a new manager at Liverpool now and maybe it will take us a year or two to get back up to the top, so this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Michael."

Vieira's possible departure would leave the Arsenal manager in urgent need of midfield reinforcements. The Brazilian Edu was given three weeks' leave after the Copa America campaign, and Arsenal are desperately working to secure Mathieu Flamini's registration before tomorrow's trip to Sunday's match at Everton.

The France Under-21 international's former club Marseille are claiming compensation for his development. Gilberto and Cesc Fábregas are the only available central midfielders, though Wenger might employ Robert Pires in that role at Goodison.