Manchester United's new signing Nick Powell can learn from Cristiano Ronaldo and is capable of winning matches on his own, says Crewe Alexandra's director of soccer, Dario Gradi.
Powell signed for United on Tuesday and the 18-year-old attacking midfielder has been tipped by many to have a bright future.
"Nick Powell is a match winner, Gradi told MUTV. "He doesn't rely on other people to make the goals for him. He's not a six-yard box player.
"In fact, we've been trying to encourage him to get in that six-yard box more. But he picks the ball up, runs at people and finishes with a goal. He wins matches on his own.
"I used to watch him in Crewe's Under-16s, training on a Monday night, and he'd hit them in from everywhere. When he joined us and came with the first team, he was a little more reluctant to do that. Perhaps he lost a bit of confidence doing that and he was playing in a more central role for England, where he was passing the ball.
"We managed to persuade him not to do that if you can score. Don't become a 'steady Eddie' if you can become a special player. He scored a terrific goal at Wimbledon for us and it reminded us of the goals he used to score for the Under-16s, going on from there to score some terrific goals."
Crewe have produced some big-time players from their academy, including the likes of David Platt and Dean Ashton. However, Gradi said, Powell's a different kind of player.
"We've had some terrific players at Crewe who went on to play for England, but Nick's not the same as any of them. He does a similar job to (Arsenal's) Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain."
Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City were also interested in signing the youngster, but Gradi said it was Sir Alex Ferguson that showed the most interest.
"There was a lot of speculation. Sir Alex came to watch him and then rang me up a couple of days later and said: 'Do you want to do a deal?' I said: 'I thought you were going to watch him for the rest of the season.' Sir Alex explained they were not going to learn much more about him as they'd got him down to a tee. We didn't want to stop the boy joining United so we worked together on an agreement.
"There were (other clubs interested) but I have to say Sir Alex wanted Nick more than anybody else did and worked harder at it. I was very impressed with the way Sir Alex went about it and what he said. If he was trying to sign me, I'd have signed!
"What Sir Alex has done is challenge the boy to do what Ronaldo did. Young players worry about their chances of playing when they go to United. But Sir Alex told Nick, 'If you do well enough, you'll get a chance. Ronaldo went on as sub (on his debut against Bolton) and was outstanding so I picked him.' Nick has got to be good enough, first of all, in training to be named as a sub but that's the challenge Sir Alex has given him."
