Michael Owen is quietly confident he will play for Newcastle United this season after he insisted the operation to save his career will probably end up prolonging it.

Owen has not played since his knee buckled horribly underneath him during England's World Cup draw against Sweden in June and there have been widespread predictions he will not feature at all this season.

But United's club-record signing has never listened to those who have tried to write him off throughout his career and, although sensibly, no precise date has been put on his return to action, there is a chance the 26-year-old will play before the end of the present campaign. The normal recovery time from a cruciate ligament injury is between six and nine months but, with initial scans showing that the operation Owen had in America by the renowned Dr Richard Steadman this month has been a success, a positive-thinking Owen has privately suggested he aims to play again before May.

"Everything has gone fine," said Owen, whose seven goals in 11 starts with the Magpies are just a frustrating taste of what he would have brought to the side had he not been cursed by injuries since his arrival from Real Madrid 13 months ago. "I am about three weeks post-op now and everything is going according to plan. I am working closely with the physios, the doctor and all the staff - and it's all progressing well so far.

"I will be frustrated until I am out here playing properly but I have got to accept it is going to be a long road back. I have had my operations now and I am hoping there are going to be no more, and it is just going to be a smooth passage back to playing football again.

"Coming out of an operation, there is plenty of bruising and swelling - and Dr Steadman likes to get a full flexion back before you start anything. We are working on getting that back and then we will start right from the bottom and try to build my strength back up. It will take a good few months to do that. I have lost a lot of muscle in the last few months since my initial injury, so that will be the plan over the next few months."

Owen's first season at St James's Park was ruined by a hamstring problem and then the broken metatarsal he picked up in an accidental collision with England team-mate Paul Robinson when Newcastle played Tottenham Hotspur on New Year's Eve. But an irritated Owen has tried to be philosophical about his misfortune, as well as Newcastle's indifferent start to the season in his absence. "We knew as soon as I got to America the first time that it was going to be a two-stage operation," Owen told Newcastle World.

"Now I have got over that initial disappointment, I know it is for the best. I know it will probably prolong my career, him doing that. If he had done everything at once there might have been complications in the future. I know it was the right thing to do and you have just got to accept it and bite your lip - and now I am looking forward to the day I can return. We have put in some good performances. We have played a couple of tough teams and not got many points out of the tougher games. But we have won a few games and the confidence is fine. We are attacking well. It has been an okay start and I am sure we will improve and get stronger as the season goes on - like last year."

Meanwhile, Owen's replacement in Newcastle's strikeforce Obafemi Martins has been called up to the Nigeria squad for their African Cup of Nations qualifier against Lesotho next week.

But the 21-year-old will be back in time to face Bolton Wanderers in the Premiership on October 14.