England manager Roy Hodgson had nothing but praise for Danny Welbeck, who notched two goals for England in their 3-1 win over Slovenia.
Danny Welbeck has been reluctant to talk about Manchester United as he prepares to face his former club for the first time on Saturday.
The Arsenal striker has often come into mixed zones — the postmatch area where journalists interview players — while on England duty with a press officer stressing he doesn’t want to talk about club issues.
No surprise. Welbeck is an articulate, clever and smart young man. I think he has an immense amount of respect for Manchester United and doesn’t want to say the wrong thing. Furthermore, he probably doesn’t want to say the wrong thing in response to Louis van Gaal’s rather cutting remarks earlier in the season about him not being United standard.
It would be foolish to give United any extra motivation and ultimately disrespectful to a club he still obviously admires, having grown up there. But United’s loss is Arsenal’s gain as Welbeck has been an excellent signing for Arsene Wenger at 16 million pounds.
That’s great business because Welbeck is young enough to improve, has already shown his ability and has all the attributes of a top striker. Even when in recent times he has not scored for Arsenal, his pace and movement causes problems for opponents and opens up space.
He showed his quality with two goals for England against Slovenia and his second was classy in particular. He also worked incredibly hard in England’s win in Scotland on Tuesday. It is fairly unusual for one club to sell to a direct rival an international striker for 16 million pounds and it has undoubtedly strengthened Arsenal.
What will be interesting to see is when Wenger has Olivier Giroud back — perhaps he will use the pair together up top because Welbeck’s pace and movement can link up really well with Giroud’s flicks and centre forward play. Make no mistake, that combination could work and pay rich dividends for Arsenal in the coming weeks.
But for this Saturday at the Emirates, so much focus will be on Welbeck and his determination to prove a point to his former club. Ask any player that question and they will always say they have no point to prove to their former employers.
But deep inside, I’m certain that Welbeck would love to show United what they are missing and it will give him a bit more fire and passion. That’s always a good thing. Welbeck will be up for it, absolutely. And he will be up against a patched-up United defence missing key players.
Danny Welbeck did not score enough goals with Manchester United, which paved his way for a move to Arsenal.
These past few weeks, Arsenal have been suffering as well because of a defensive injury crisis — Nacho Monreal has been filling in at centre half and Mathieu Debuchy has been out injured. With two weakened defences, goals are almost guaranteed. That could be a great chance for Welbeck.
I still think he hasn’t benefitted fully from Arsenal’s midfield and creativity, simply because we’ve not yet seen the best of Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott has been out of action. When Arsenal have a fully fit squad to choose from and more options up top, there will be more chances and opportunities to feed off for Welbeck. But for now, Saturday is a great chance for the former United hero to prove his point — even if he won’t see it like that.
United have spent big on attacking players such as Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao rather than keep faith with homegrown talent like Welbeck.
Arsenal have built a squad around British players such as Jack Wilshere, Walcott, Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey. They are like United used to be in that they promote homegrown players, put them in the squad and give them a chance.
But it is also up to Welbeck to seize his moment on Saturday because scoring the winning goal would really show that United made a big mistake in selling to Arsenal. He has been such a good player for England and if he can continue showing his international form for Arsenal, he will prove to be a bargain.