Where is Welbeck? by Dan Smith
The accusation under Arsene Wenger was that players were too comfortable and not challenged enough, something Unai Emery will want to change. An example of that comes from the fact that Danny Welbeck is still yet to kick a ball for his new boss despite pre-season completed. To put that into perspective, Sergio Aguero who scored twice at the World Cup, started this weekend against Chelsea. Welbeck, who played 11 minutes in Russia remains on holiday. England of course got to the semi-final so the striker still would have been using physical and mental energy for about a month.
Clubs spend thousands recruiting the best professionals in the world to study all kinds of statistics. They would be looking at various analytical data to determine what dates individuals should come back to work. If Arsenal ignored that advice, there be no point in having them on the pay roll. It be have been nice to hear that Welbeck at least offered to play in friendlies, like Lukaku did. That he hasn’t, when there is less then 12 months of his contract remaining, tells me he doesn’t care enough.
Maximising your career is based on attitude as much as talent. This is a crucial period in the life of Welbeck, he’s not going to perform on a bigger stage then the Emirates. You would think he be desperate to prove to a new boss how much he wants to play for the gunners. Maybe he doesn’t? Maybe he’s happy to earn a huge wage while sitting on the bench. For my country’s sake, it be nice if we had characters who didn’t think like that.
Welbecks’s first interaction with a new regime will be this week, catching up with fitness while we prepare for the Champions.
No wonder Emery is open to offers for a man he hasn’t even seen play in person.
Dan Smith