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Nick Powell is believed to be edging closer to a move to Stoke City as he leaves Wigan Athletic.

The 25-year-old former Crewe and Manchester United playmaker is a free agent who has re-built his reputation as a match winner with a couple of stellar seasons.

He made 32 appearances for the Championship side this term, scoring eight times – and inspired a 3-0 win at Stoke back in August.

The mercurial forward grew up in South Cheshire and was on Crewe’s books from the age of five, breaking into the first team when he was 16.

Dario Gradi always insisted that he was bound to play for England and, after a major role in winning promotion from League Two in 2012, he was signed by Man Utd in a deal worth up to £6m.

Loan moves to Wigan, Leicester and Hull followed but it took a permanent move to Wigan, in 2016, to get on the pitch regularly.

He was League One player of the season as the Latics won promotion in 2018 and he helped keep them in the Championship this time around – although they have been all-but resigned to his departure as his contract was running up.

The former England youth is understood to have turned down a new deal on the table at the DW Stadium and Nathan Jones is keen to bring him to the Potteries.

Jones is expecting to bring in half-a-dozen new faces this summer and Millwall striker Lee Gregory and Barnsley keeper Adam Davies are among his targets.

He has also sanctioned the release of Charlie Adam, Darren Fletcher and Jakob Haugaard and more senior casualties are expected as he tries to turn a squad which finished 16th into promotion contenders.