The conundrum that is Danny Welbeck by Precious Et Al
Hello, everyone. Let us retrospect a little, shall we? In the late hours of deadline day, in the summer transfer window at the start of the 2014/2015 season, on the 2nd day of September, Arsenal signed Danny Welbeck from Manchester United for a fee of 16 million British pounds. I remember feeling somewhat excited with the new arrival- not really because I expected him to instantly light up the Emirates, but because I saw so much potential in him and I immediately imagined the Emirates would be the perfect terrain to hone and polish his skills. The fact that strength, work rate, speed, and adeptness in the air came in with the package didn’t hurt either. It all seemed like a masterstroke.
And, in this thinking I felt justified when he hammered in a UEFA Champions League hat trick against Galatasaray in a 4-1 victory and when he scored the winning goal to knock out Manchester United in the quarter- finals of the FA Cup at Old Trafford. Unfortunately though, the Englishman has seldom been available, spending more time in the treatment room than on the pitch. He has had several spells on the side lines, one for ten months and another of eight months and made just 52 appearances since he signed. In case you are wondering, that is an average of just over 17 appearances per season – in all competitions. Yes, 17! And, at 26, the young man isn’t exactly getting any younger.
So, what do you do as a football club when you have this player; who although immensely bequeathed with quality, isn’t exactly world class, and worse still, has spent sundry hours on the treatment table, all the while taking squad space and wages? Do you give him some more time? Or do you cut your losses and run?
We have had this incessant need for a world class striker since RVP bolted and even with the plethora of options at the club, there exists yet the need to strengthen the frontline. Putting in consideration of the number of bodies available already, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to envision that we might need to sell one of the many ‘options’ before we bring in a new addition. Welbeck, Giroud, Perez, maybe even Walcott. One of these players might need to give way for a more quality addition to come in. And, presumably this is going to be Perez (what he did to offend Wenger, I do not know). But all things considered, maybe, just maybe the Englishman would be a better option to depart? It’s just a thought.
Precious Et Al