Liverpool hope to be able to announce Michael Owen's new contract when they return from their three-match trip to the United States.

The deal should be complete before the Reds' first game of the season - a Champions League qualifier on August 11.

The draw for the third qualifying round takes place at the end of the week, where Liverpool could find themselves up against any one of Benfica, Basle, CSKA Moscow, Red Star Belgrade, Banik Ostrava, Trabzonspor, FC Copenhagen and Hajduk Split, who are all in Liverpool's section of the draw.

But by the time that game comes around, Liverpool pray that over 14 months of negotiations will have come to an end with Owen signing a two-year extension to the one year he has on his current contract.

The reason for optimism now is that Owen's agent Tony Stephens is due to fly out to the States this week for further meetings with Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry, and sources at the club believe an announcement will be made when new coach Rafael Benitez and his squad return to Merseyside after facing Celtic, Porto and Roma in the USA.

By then Liverpool expect to have completed the signing of Malaga defender Josemi for £2million.

The deal is still being negotiated and it is hoped that the 24 year-old will be flown out to join his new team-mates by the end of the week.

The player is still with the Primera Liga side at their Swiss training centre and hopes to fly to Liverpool for a medical in the next couple of days