I'm not so sure he was, or at least not everyone thought he was a top prospect at all, especially on here. I watched him a lot from the reserves up, and there was so much doubt about him it wasn't funny, and that's because even in the reserves aside from the wonder goals, he really didn't look all that, and couldn't carry his form across matches whenever it did spike. He was average for pretty much all I can remember. I never thought he would become a regular for us, and a lot of people said the same thing a long long time before he started playing for the first team. Go back to 08/09 and see how Gibson was rated on here. But you know was being hyped up back then? Danny Welbeck....he was being recognized for the talent he showed in abundance.
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No doubt about it. Gibson was seen as a special talent, even. He was surrounded by a much bigger hype than your average "might make it, might not" sort of young prospect. He had several extreme qualities which made him stand out at a young age - his passing for one. And his long range shooting. What he lacked was quickness, both in head and feet, I guess you might say. And he never took the necessary strides in that respect to become a true top player. But the point is, as you rightly say, thatmany people had very high hopes for him - more so than usual, I'd say.
I certainly don't seem to remember Gibson being labeled as a top talent on here too much. Even the likes of Eagles and Richardson got more recognition at one point or another. I seem to remember a lot of unjustified hype around David Jones around the time when we loaned him to Nijmegen even with some made up quotes from Ferguson about him supposedly replacing Keane long term.
Despite no big signings yet, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful and, for me, Nick Powell is one of those. Tremendous potential, and I'm sure there will be a bucket loads of quality goals from him. Then I think about Kagawa and how he's looking to kick on, Cleverley hopefully plans to give us 90mins, Zaha, Welbeck and Hernandez continuing to improve also. Jones, Smalling, De Gea...... its a not a bad list of upcoming talent. Personally I think we've a better chance of maximising that if we bring in some quality, dare I say midfielders. Its not all doom n gloom. Oh, and you never know, Rooney & RVP might chip in too 
Despite no big signings yet, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful and, for me, Nick Powell is one of those. Tremendous potential, and I'm sure there will be a bucket loads of quality goals from him. Then I think about Kagawa and how he's looking to kick on, Cleverley hopefully plans to give us 90mins, Zaha, Welbeck and Hernandez continuing to improve also. Jones, Smalling, De Gea...... its a not a bad list of upcoming talent. Personally I think we've a better chance of maximising that if we bring in some quality, dare I say midfielders. Its not all doom n gloom. Oh, and you never know, Rooney & RVP might chip in too
You forgot the twins
Interesting stuff from Gradi:
I miss Fergie
I miss Fergie
That's called man management. What youngster can turn down the club when the legendary manager flies you down personally to meet him.
Giggs said that when United tried to sign him, SAF came personally to his house. How can you refuse?
I think this is one of the reasons we went for Moyes as he will show a similar enthusiasm to go the extra mile to watch or sign a young recruit.
Giggs said that when United tried to sign him, SAF came personally to his house. How can you refuse?
I think this is one of the reasons we went for Moyes as he will show a similar enthusiasm to go the extra mile to watch or sign a young recruit.
Nice comments. It's weird how we never handled Aaron Ramsey's potential transfer in the same way. I guess we didn't want him enough.
Am I the only one who didn't see the tremendous potential of Powell. He is like a slightly better version of Gibson for me.
Despite no big signings yet, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful and, for me, Nick Powell is one of those. Tremendous potential, and I'm sure there will be a bucket loads of quality goals from him. Then I think about Kagawa and how he's looking to kick on, Cleverley hopefully plans to give us 90mins, Zaha, Welbeck and Hernandez continuing to improve also. Jones, Smalling, De Gea...... its a not a bad list of upcoming talent. Personally I think we've a better chance of maximising that if we bring in some quality, dare I say midfielders. Its not all doom n gloom. Oh, and you never know, Rooney & RVP might chip in too
Shut up, we're shit and absolutely doomed if we don't sign at least two world class midfielders.
Powell has a lot more to offer than Gibson has. Gibson is a central midfielder, and can probably never play anywhere else - superb shot and good passing overall. Powell is more of an attacking midfielder/striker. He is really good in the air - he lacks a bit of pace (as do Gibson) - but he is actually really good with the ball and easily gets past players, something Gibson isn't good at.
My 2 main concerns with Powell is his lack of pace - and also that his strongest position looks to be as an attacking midfielder - and I can't see him play as a striker or central midfielder. Which makes it harder to find a place in the team.
Interesting stuff from Gradi:
I miss Fergie
Things didnt always go well for fergie when it came to transfers eitherso is he still injured? has to vacate his no.25 to tony v as well.
Was going to say the same. Exactly opposite happened with Ramsey. Guess depends on how badly club want to get a particular player.
I think a lot of people are rating his potential more because of Fergie's comments than his actual performances. There is definitely something about him but it's hugely premature to think he's anywhere near the first team yet. He needs a full season at reserve level at this point more than anything - it was a horribly interrupted season last year.
I wouldn't say it suggests that we wanted one particular player more than the other just that Sir Alex learned from his mistakes.
Nope. Real life doesn't follow neat little patterns. If Fergie's not an idiot, he considers every transfer on its own merits, without worrying about vaguely similar cases in the past.
Or, it could also be a case of Fergie not wanting to make the same mistake again I suppose.
Nah. They are polar opposites as players though. Not sure any comparison can be made.
Powell is more of a Lampard style midfielder if id to name one.
Reports that he'll be sent on loan. I think he needs that badly at this stage. Just a matter of picking the right club....
You clearly didn't see him in the reserves then. At times he is absolutely magic. He seems quite a selfish player but he has the ability to score from absolutely nothing - that type of talent is not easy to find.
I think he is too good for the reserves, think he will make far more progress out on loan as you said.
Aside from the fact he can strike a ball well from distance I don't see the similarity here at all. That's not a slight on Gibbo either who I like.
I saw him in almost every game he played. His positioning is way off - definitely not ready for regular first team football yet. Absolutely magic is a big stretch but there were moments of brilliance. The run down the right with the finish over the keeper for example.
He's only played about 4 months of football for us and needs more time. Like I say, he clearly has something about him but people are mistaken if they think he's going to be the answer in midfield in the near future.
Has anyone claimed he's the answer to our midfield?
Probably not, but I do see a lot of misplaced trust on here in Powell though despite there not being too much indication at this point that he's a real stand out talent. He stands out in the reserves, but I think because of Fergie's comments people have a slightly warped view of what sort of talent he is. It's really up in the air as it stands, though if we were to play him in centre mid now we'd likely get run over.
I do like what I've seen at some points, though. Lampard is the obvious comparison but he's a better dribbler than I thought. He has a very nice turn on him too - there's a very threatening instinct about him in that respect that not too many midfielders have. Not like Gibson where you just knew he could crack one from range, but an ability to receive the ball with his back to goal and then cause damage.
I do like what I've seen at some points, though. Lampard is the obvious comparison but he's a better dribbler than I thought. He has a very nice turn on him too - there's a very threatening instinct about him in that respect that not too many midfielders have. Not like Gibson where you just knew he could crack one from range, but an ability to receive the ball with his back to goal and then cause damage.
Really? The vast majority of opinions seem to be roughly the same as yours: we've seen some nice qualities in his football, don't know much about him, and are willing to trust the judgement of the people at the club who decided to buy him until we see more. There's definitely no-one even remotely suggesting he's the answer to our midfield.
I've definitely seen people comfortable with the idea of us not signing someone if it means us putting faith in Powell (or an 'up and coming midfielder', which could only mean Powell). Not something I'm going to dig up but I've had the discussion a few times over the summer.
Regardless of this, I'm interested to see how Powell responds to the form of Januzaj. I thought they were about even at times last year but Januzaj has really taken the upper hand, so perhaps that will provide the motivation for him to really work on his off the ball work and become a top drawer midfielder. After all, if there are any spare minutes going on the wing or behind the front man, it will likely be Januzaj and not Powell that we afford them to now.
Powell really does look more suited to being attacking midfielder at this point to me though so it's a difficult one. More than enough time for him to develop elsewhere, mind you.
Regardless of this, I'm interested to see how Powell responds to the form of Januzaj. I thought they were about even at times last year but Januzaj has really taken the upper hand, so perhaps that will provide the motivation for him to really work on his off the ball work and become a top drawer midfielder. After all, if there are any spare minutes going on the wing or behind the front man, it will likely be Januzaj and not Powell that we afford them to now.
Powell really does look more suited to being attacking midfielder at this point to me though so it's a difficult one. More than enough time for him to develop elsewhere, mind you.
To be honest, from the little I've seen of him, he doesn't stand out as a great talent. Adnan on the other hand I've seen less of but looks like a real gem.
I'd really like to see how Powell plays in a deeper midfield role for a few games, but really I think he should go on loan to a Championship side. He's a big lad so the physical side of it shouldn't be a problem.
He and Adnan were the standouts in the last season's reserve team.
Powell despite being played as a striker looked excellent. He's a great prospect who's been injury prone, a loan move to Wigan sounds excellent.
Powell despite being played as a striker looked excellent. He's a great prospect who's been injury prone, a loan move to Wigan sounds excellent.
I don't think it helped that he was often played as a striker in the reserves because we were short in numbers. I feel he should be mastering the CM role. Playing first team football every week in midfield should be the priority. We don't have a great success rate with loan deals of late and should probably do something similar to what Barcelona have done with Deulofeu(sp?) and say to Wigan or whoever, they don't have to pay the loan fee/wages if he features or starts in 80%+ of their games.
Hmm, I can't agree with that.
I hate that term but he played more as a false nine rather than a striker for reserves. I think it's good for his development. Also I see him as the Scholes of early 2000's rather than the Scholes of 2006 i.e an attacking midfielder rather than staying deep and spraying pass all around the field.
Ehm...POTY at Crewe at the age of 17 - excellent technique, brilliant header of the ball, good passing, very good shot with both legs and an eye for goal. Oh yes - he is 19 years old now. He IS a great talent.
I'm always interested by people's takes on "Physical" divisons.
Do you really think that any one division is more physical than the rest?
He came from the lower leagues remember, which have their fair share of absolute goons playing long ball.
each division has physical and not so physical teams. Stoke and West Ham are ultra physical, even in the premier league!
I think he was played there to fill a hole, and that if we had a natural striker he would probably have been used more in midfield. I didn't imply it was detrimental or anything just that he had already been played behind the striker at Crewe and SAF and Dario Gradi suggested that they thought his best position would be CM but we didn't give him much time there which I think would have been better for his development.
I meant more, that some young talents aren't physically ready for first team football. Lingard is a prime example. I think because of his size, at 19-20 then Lingard would only have got games at a L2 side, but technically that level is beneath him. Powell is technically good enough for the Championship and he's physically ready too.
I didn't see him for Crewe though. Was he player of the year FOR Crewe?
I think he won just about every possible award that was available to him at Crewe that season.
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