Danny Welbeck ready to prove his worth as potent striker for Manchester United in Premier League campaign
Sir Alex Ferguson always believed he had the potential to become something quite special at Manchester United and with every passing day of increased speculation about Rooney’s future Welbeck would be forgiven for thinking that this could be his year.
Welbeck was just 16, less than a year out of school, when Ferguson began to tell people that the young striker making cameo appearances during the run to the 2007 FA Youth Cup final was the player he had waited over two decades for – a home-grown goalscorer capable of saving the club a fortune in the transfer market.
For all of the prodigious youngsters to emerge from the ranks at Old Trafford under Ferguson, only Mark Robins came close to establishing himself in the forward line before falling by the wayside almost as quickly as he arrived on the scene.
While Liverpool unearthed Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen, United saw the likes of David Healy, Giuseppe Rossi and Fraizer Campbell fail to make the grade before offloading them to enjoy comparatively successful careers elsewhere. Welbeck was Ferguson’s biggest hope, however, and he placed a protective arm around the Manchester-born forward and kept it there.
When Welbeck’s development stalled, Ferguson would talk of the ‘knee-growth problem’, Osgood-Schlatter disease, which left him in agony during his teenage years. When reminded midway through last season that the player had scored just one Premier League goal so far that campaign, the then-United manager claimed not to have even noticed.
Ferguson’s retirement at the end of last season took away Welbeck’s protective blanket, however, and the arrival of David Moyes as manager threatened to be the make-or-break moment for the 22-year-old.
Moyes was already an admirer of the England forward, but he shared the concerns over his strike rate and ability to shoulder the burden of playing in his favoured central role for United.
Welbeck then endured a false start under Moyes, missing a hatful of chanced during a pre-season defeat in Bangkok. However, through a combination of the new manager’s faith, the injury-enforced absence of Rooney and Welbeck’s growing confidence, the forward now prepares for Monday’s encounter with Chelsea with self-belief flowing through his veins after scoring two goals – double last season’s league tally – during the 4-1 victory at Swansea.
“I think sometimes you need a run and a bit of confidence with getting the goals,” Moyes said when asked about Welbeck. “Sometimes you need to get into the right areas and maybe in the past, Danny has not wanted to get right in to get his goals.
“That’s why his first one at Swansea was pleasing because he was in for a ball that was played right across the six-yard box and he got himself a tap-in. During the summer tour, I spoke to him a lot, urging him to get in more goalscoring positions.
“We kept saying to him to get in there – actually he missed a few on the tour. But when he scored his second at Swansea last week, when he flicked the ball over the keeper’s head, I said to him it was the sort of finish of someone with confidence who’d scored 20 goals in the Premier League. Can he be a 20-goals-a-season striker? We’re going to try and encourage him to be that and do everything we can to do so.”
Welbeck’s readiness to drift into more central positions under Moyes, having been largely deployed on the left by Ferguson, has been encouraged by the new regime at Old Trafford.
Ferguson conceded that “Danny doesn’t appreciate us moving him around in various positions”, admitting that he is a “natural centre-forward and will play the role once he gets maturity and consistency”. But his selection for both of last season’s Champions League ties against Real Madrid, when he was named ahead of Rooney for the second leg at Old Trafford, highlighted the player’s worth to United and Ferguson’s admiration of Welbeck’s team ethic.
Rooney’s absence from the summer tour also gave Welbeck the opportunity to place himself in the position he now occupies – as Robin van Persie’s floating strike-partner.
With Rooney nursing injuries to hamstring and shoulder, Welbeck found form and fitness by playing in seven of United’s eight pre-season fixtures. He scored goals, proved his credentials to Moyes and gave himself the opportunity to hit the ground running this season with his two goals at Swansea.
“Danny is a very valued member of our squad,” said United defender Jonny Evans. “People have been saying over the years that he doesn’t quite get the attention he should, but that is just purely down to goals. If you look at his overall play, the things he can do with the ball are unbelievable. Then there are the things he does off the ball for the team as well. The shifts he puts in are fantastic.”
