Nick Powell has got back on track at Wigan Athletic in League One and Steve Bruce is keen to link up with him again at Aston Villa in the Championship.
Nick Powell may be seen as one of the biggest wasted talents in English football but, a year-and-a-half after his Manchester United dream came crashing down, he is starting to get his career back on track.
Powell has been in superb form at Wigan Athletic this season, his tally of ten goals and two assists from 21 games firing Paul Cook’s Latics to the top of the League One table.
And according to the Birmingham Mail, his form in the third tier may be rewarded with a move to Aston Villa in the January transfer window. It is understood that Steve Bruce is interested in re-uniting with a player who played three games for him during a loan spell at Hull City in 2015/16.
The report adds that Bruce has already made an approach for Powell but has been rebuffed, although Villa are still interested in signing a player who his former manager at Crewe Alexandra likened to Manchester United legend Eric Cantona when he got his big break at Old Trafford in 2012.
Clearly, Powell has not managed to live up to those early expectations. He was damaged more than most by Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement at the end of his debut season at United and was farmed out on a series of loans during the reigns of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
But Powell has looked a cut above in League One and undoubtedly has the technical ability to succeed in the Championship.
At the age of just 23, could Aston Villa be the place where Powell finally lives up to that extraordinary potential?
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