But he wants England's top striker to have his shooting boots on against Israel and Russia next month

After making a long-awaited season's bow for Newcastle against Aston Villa at the weekend, Owen will feature for his country when the three-time world champions head to Wembley for the first friendly of the new campaign.

While no England manager is likely to take a clash with Germany lightly, McClaren freely accepts the encounter is merely a stepping stone to the key Euro 2008 double-header on home soil in September.

And, although David Beckham's name monopolised McClaren's first 12 months in charge of the national side, the return of Owen - England's sixth-highest scorer - for the June encounters with Brazil and Estonia was arguably more important, especially as Wayne Rooney is sidelined for a couple of months with a broken foot.

"Michael Owen is a big player for us," said McClaren.

"When he came back in the summer, he looked really sharp, if anything better than he was before.

"His enthusiasm, attitude and work-rate were first class.

"Every team needs a genuine world-class goalscorer and we have Michael.

"Tomorrow represents an ideal opportunity to give him minutes on the pitch and get some more match practice under his belt in preparation for three weeks when we play Israel and Russia next month, when hopefully he will be better still."

It is not difficult to see why Owen will prove so vital to England's chance of reaching next summer's European Championships.

With 37 goals to his name - 12 short of Sir Bobby Charlton's all-time record - Owen is responsible for almost 40% of the entire output of the 23 players remaining in McClaren's squad now Steven Gerrard, Darren Bent and Andrew Johnson have pulled out.

"He is a player I have been looking forward to getting back in the squad because he has such quality," said McClaren.

"I know he is itching to play at Wembley again and this is an ideal opportunity for him to get some minutes under his belt."

Owen could find himself paired with Newcastle team-mate Alan Smith on Wednesday - the first time two strikers from the north-east giants have started an England game since Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand were paired together against Poland in 1996.

The other realistic option is Peter Crouch, even though the Liverpool forward has been restricted to just one start and a very brief substitute appearance by Reds boss Rafael Benitez so far this term and is also suspended for the Israel encounter.

With so many niggles affecting his squad and a light training session organised for the morning, McClaren declined to name his starting line-up a day early, as he usually has for friendly matches.

Yet the reports of David Beckham's impact so far suggest he will figure at some point even though his troublesome ankle injury appeared to be causing him pain during LA Galaxy's high-scoring defeat to the New York Red Bulls at the weekend.

"There is no problem with him at the moment," said McClaren.

"He has trained and looked very good. I certainly think it is worth him flying over. The fact David was willing to make the trip speaks for itself."

McClaren insisted he has no arrangements in place with any Premier League managers over the use of their players.

As skipper John Terry is expected to partner Rio Ferdinand in central defence, man-of-the-moment Micah Richards is expected to start at right-back, with Ashley Cole completing the defensive quartet.

Paul Robinson remains in goal, although he is facing a stiffer challenge than ever to his place following the decision to end in-form veteran David James' 12-month England exile.

With all 90,000 tickets sold out and millions expected to watch on TV, McClaren knows England must deliver a convincing, if not necessarily winning performance.

However, the former Middlesbrough coach is hardly making any attempt to disguise the fact that getting 'Team England' back on the agenda ahead of the make-or-break autumn fixtures has been his major priority during this week's gathering.

"There are no friendlies with England," he said.

"We are at Wembley, in front of 90,000 people with another eight million watching on TV. That is some friendly.

"But I was also keen to get England back in the minds of the players.

"They have been with their clubs throughout pre-season. They have just had three hectic games in a week and their heads are spinning.

"I just want to clear their heads and say 'England is back on the agenda'; this is what we have done, this is where we are, this is what we want to achieve."