England striker Owen has more surgery on broken foot

LONDON, Mar 25 (Reuters) England striker Michael Owen has undergone further surgery on a broken foot raising concerns over his fitness for the World Cup.

The 26-year-old Newcastle forward had what his club called a minor procedure at a Manchester hospital yesterday after feeling soreness round the metatarsal he broke on Dec. 31.

''The specialists have said that everything is healing fine but to speed the process they need to tighten the screw they inserted at the time of may operation in January,'' Owen said on the club's website.

Owen said last month he expected to be playing for Newcastle by the beginning of April but the new surgery will delay his return to the end of next month.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has said one of his greatest concerns is his injury list before the World Cup finals, which start on June 9.

Eriksson names his provisional squad on May 8 with friendlies scheduled against Hungary on May 30 and Jamaica on June 3, leaving Owen little time to get match fit.

REUTERS AY PC1627