It's no longer a situation where we're replacing Carroll with Owen or whoever. Carroll's gone and wasn't been replaced and we can't change that until January. Any decision to sign Owen or anybody else that's out of contract has to be taken in isolation and the only question that needs asking is (providing they sign on a short-term deal), are they better than nothing?
That's not me encouraging a return for Owen btw. If I was Ian Ayre, I'd phone Owen just to tell him that even we're not that desperate.