Exclusive: Wigan Athletic hero Nick Powell on being the quiet man

Notoriously microphone-shy, the 27-year-old could count the number of interviews he’s conducted over the years on one hand...and have digits remaining.

Rather than being seen as a negative, though, Powell’s private practice has served only to fuel the image of a maverick with magic in his boots.

Ahead of his first return to Wigan as an opposition player in midweek, the Crewe-born Stoke player has broken his silence to grant Wigan Today a genuine world exclusive.

The first question is an obvious one: Why doesn’t he do more interviews!

“It’s a bit of everything really,” he explained, after a long pause.

“I don’t particularly trust the media – no offence – but it’s more that whatever a footballer has to say really doesn’t matter.

“If you’ve watched a game, you understand yourself what’s happened.

“Is a footballer’s opinion really going to affect what’s already happened on the pitch?

“If I thought there was something I absolutely needed to say, I’d come out and say it. But it speaks volumes that I’ve never really felt the need to do that.”

Already it’s clear Powell has more to say than perhaps he realises.

And it’s a persona those in his close circle would struggle to comprehend.

“It really depends who I’m with,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m massively outgoing, but I do have a laugh with those around me.

“To be fair I got on with pretty much everyone at Wigan, but most of all the car school – Michael Jacobs, Will Grigg, Dan Burn, Reece James (the left-back) – the Call of Duty gaming lads – Owen Evans, Jamie Jones, Callum Elder – and also Nathan Byrne.

“Me and Nathan still talk pretty much every day.

“It’s not that I don’t get on with some people. I get along with everyone I try to, it’s just I’m not a massively sociable person.”

Powell’s introverted nature has also led to being cast – especially when things haven’t gone well on the field – as a sullen individual, who doesn’t care.

Something he’s adamant is completely untrue.

“It could not be further from the truth,” he insisted. “I wouldn’t say there’s a lack of emotion, because I always want to win, and I get angry when we don’t win.

“I just think there’s been a misconception about me for a number of years that I don’t care.

“And that’s made me perhaps not want to speak out even more, because if people want to have that opinion, it doesn’t really affect me.

“Becoming a parent has made me more sociable, I guess.

“But would it make me more outgoing, and want to speak more to people? (Another pause) Probably not.”

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