Kevin Keegan is expected to make significant signings for Newcastle United this summer, but he knows who his top target is: Michael Owen. Persuading his captain to extend his stay at St James’ Park is the priority and the scoring prowess of the England forward is only part of the reason.

“I talked to him last week and I don’t think there will be any problem,” Keegan said. “We want him and he wants to stay, I think. He enjoys being at Newcastle. He’s never really had the chance to prove it because of injuries and people have, a bit unfairly, said, ‘Is he totally committed?’ I’m the person best placed to answer that, and it’s ‘yes’ with a capital Y.

“He has taken over the dressing-room with a couple of others and said, ‘Come on, let’s get this club where it should be.’ So he’ll be our main signing next season, regardless of who comes and how much they cost.”

Owen, 29, is in the third year of a four-year contract that expires in August 2009. But assuming that Keegan persuades him to stay longer, will he be signing an out-and-out striker or a playmaker? Owen is playing behind Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins, which makes him harder to mark.

“I tried a different way of playing – what I thought was a very positive way with two wingers – but we weren’t scoring goals, so we went to plan B,” Keegan said. “I think Michael has really enjoyed playing it, but you’d have to ask him. I haven’t dared to ask him, in case he says he hasn’t. I think he can have a key role for England as well, playing a similar position.”

Harry Redknapp was less convinced that Owen’s future lies deeper and although the Portsmouth manager could have had a say in the matter had he accepted the Newcastle job, his decision to stay at Fratton Park has been vindicated by an appearance in the FA Cup Final. However, his team are not especially easy on the eye and Saturday’s match went some way to explaining why more Britons are reported to be emigrating from the Portsmouth area than anywhere else.

Redknapp likes to talk up his team’s power and athleticism, but fluency is not a strength and with John Utaka injured, they have no natural width. Glen Johnson, the right back, was arguably their most creative player, but most of the openings they created came from long passes flung forward in the direction of Jermain Defoe.

The Portsmouth defence usually guarantees at least a point, but it almost cracked when Sylvain Distin’s miscue presented Owen with a volley four yards out. However, the ball was carried to safety by a deflection off the head of David James, who credited his hair for preserving his 22nd clean sheet of the season. “Fortunately I didn’t cut it when my girlfriend asked me to,” he said.

Portsmouth (4-4-2): D James 5 – G Johnson 7, S Campbell 5, S Distin 5, H Hreidarsson 5 – P Bouba Diop 5, S Davis 6, S Muntari 5, N Kranjcar 4 – Kanu 4 (sub: D Nugent, 75), J Defoe 6. Substitutes not used: A Begovic, Lauren, R Hughes, P Mendes. Booked: Johnson. Next: Manchester City (a).

Newcastle United (4-3-1-2): S Harper 6 – H Beye 5, A Faye 7, S Taylor 7, J Enrique 6 – Gérémi 7, N Butt 7, J Barton 5 – M Owen 6 – M Viduka 4 (sub: A Smith, 82), O Martins 7. Substitutes not used: F Forster, D Duff, D Edgar, A Carroll. Next: Sunderland (h).

Referee: P Dowd
Attendance: 20,507