Dubai: It’s only taken a decade since the debut of Wayne Rooney, two if you count David Beckham, but English football has again given rise to a prospect whose name is on the verge of going global.
First noted for his 25-yard screamer for Crewe Alexandra in their League Two play-off final win over Cheltenham last season, 18-year-old Nick Powell then made a Roy of the Rovers-esque £4 million transfer to Manchester United over the summer.
Top-scoring for Crewe with 16 goals from midfield last season, while winning League Two apprentice of the year, many thought he’d never be seen at United, languishing in the doldrums of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reserves. But fast-forward to his English Premier League debut against Wigan at Old Trafford on Saturday and it’s confirmed: Powell is the real deal.
After just 11 minutes on the pitch — he came on as a 71st-minute substitute for Ryan Giggs — Powell rocketed Javier Hernandez’s pass into the net from outside the area, leaving goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi standing.
On a weekend when John Terry’s handshake got left hanging again, and when Arsenal put six past Southampton, silencing post-Robin van Persie goalscoring fears, Powell has stolen the limelight.
Crewe, and Dario Gradi, two entities British football already owe such a debt of gratitude, having rolled out David Platt, Neil Lennon and Robbie Savage, among many others, have done it again.
At a time when United were scratching around for midfielders as they phase out the ageing Paul Scholes and Giggs, and buying another striker, Van Persie, when questions were being asked in the middle of the park, proof of Powell’s ability in the top flight is very welcome.
Talk now will be of protecting Powell, both in terms of overuse for United, as well as, hopefully, the England set-up. But while we don’t want to see another Michael Owen situation, whereby overplaying him early curtails his promise, we also don’t want the opposite.
Either way, whatever’s in the water at Crewe needs bottling, as every lower league club should be aspiring to their youth system. With top clubs forced to rethink their finances, picking up cheaper talent closer to home and putting cash back into the lower leagues will ultimately drive a better national team.
