This feature is bound to raise some eyebrows, but hear me out: Louis van Gaal should, in my opinion, grant Nick Powell a real chance to impress in a Manchester United shirt. By this, I mean he should start against Norwich City at the weekend – and again for two or three games after that, bar a truly disastrous performance.
Powell came through Crewe Alexandra’s youth academy, which is well-known for producing top talent. He made his Crewe debut in 2010, as a sixteen-year-old. Two years later, after a string of impressive performances which culminated in a wonder-goal in the League Two play-off final at Wembley, Manchester United signed him for a deal which could rise to £6 million, based on various clauses.
Those clauses which would see the figure rise to that maximum are based on playing time and success with Manchester United – both of which he is ready for and Louis van Gaal should help him achieve.
The Dutch manager is, as we know very well, no stranger to using youth players in the senior squad. As well as having given Jesse Lingard, Paddy McNair and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson their United debuts, he was the man responsible for the introductions of Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Patrick Kluivert and David Alaba at their respective clubs – he knows what he’s doing.
Powell has, of course, recently been used by Van Gaal, coming on as a substitute in recent losses to Wolfsburg and Bournemouth. This, for me, is not enough. Powell deserves to be in the starting eleven right now.
Strengths
Creativity: Something United really seem to be lacking just now, especially in the final third. Powell’s play is probably best described as inventive. He has a very good ‘football brain’ – his reactions are good, his vision is better and his drive getting forward is even better than that.
Dribbling: Another thing the current United side have been lacking is a link between deep midfield and attack – getting the ball from Morgan Schneiderlin to Anthony Martial has been laborious of late, but Powell can change that. Someone who is good at getting back to help the defence, he’s great on the ball, which could really help on the counter-attack, as well as in teasing open opposition defences, which are almost always deep-lying and numerous.
Aerial ability: He scored a fantastic headed goal for Warren Joyce’s under-21 side against Leicester last week, but that’s not the whole of it. His six foot frame definitely helps, but Powell’s a tenacious winner of aerial battles and is perhaps a safer option than just lumping the ball aimlessly in the direction of Marouane Fellaini.
Versatility
We all know that Louis van Gaal loves players who are versatile. Daley Blind is naturally a defensive midfielder, but played as a left-wing-back in the 2014 World Cup and has occupied the centre-back spot at United for much of this season. Matteo Darmian is a right-back but can play as a wing-back on either side of the pitch. Nick Powell is another player in this category – signed as a striker, he can play deeper in midfield a la Santi Cazorla of Arsenal, he can play in a standard centre-midfield role like that of Paul Scholes, or he can play as a striker either alone or in a partnership.
Given United’s current injury situation, which means Antonio Valencia and Jesse Lingard amongst many others are unavailable, Powell’s versatility could be very useful. One way he could be used is as a partner for Morgan Schneiderlin, if Michael Carrick is forced to fill in at centre-back, or the youngster could play in the ‘number ten’ role behind Anthony Martial. Alternatively, Martial could fall back into the right-wing position, leaving Mata to play behind Powell, who would be the lone striker. Any which way, I think Powell could have an instant impact as a starting player for the Red Devils.
Seriously, give me a well-argued reason as to why Nick Powell shouldn’t be given his first proper run in Manchester United’s first team. I’ve seen some accusations on Twitter that he’s not up to the task because his last loan spell (at Leicester) didn’t see him get much game time, but they don’t all go well!
To give another example of lack of game time on loan, David Beckham only played five times on loan at Preston (granted, he scored two goals in those games, but the principle is the same) – was he binned at United for not forcing his way into the Preston squad in the long term? We all know the answer to that.
Powell scored seven times in thirty-two loan appearances for Wigan in 2013-14; this included three goals in six games in the UEFA Europa League. That doesn’t sound too bad does it? No.
Verdict
I’ve said it throughout this article, give the man a shot. Will he be the world-class catalyst that United need to see them rampage back to the top of the European football table? It’s unlikely. Will he give it his all, providing some strength, creativity and maybe even goals? Absolutely.
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